


Changes.

by thatlily



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, I Tried, hope you like it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-01 01:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 25,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4000219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatlily/pseuds/thatlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lexa's surroundings always change, she always moves, but moving to California is different to all the other places she's lived. Clarke Griffin is in California.<br/>Clarke Griffin has always been in the same place with the same people so when Lexa Heda comes along things change.<br/>Octavia didn't expect to find a boyfriend in High School so Lincoln Heda comes as a shock to her, a fantastic shock.<br/>Lincoln Heda just fell for the one and only Octavia Blake.<br/>Raven and Anya have been crushing on each other for years. Utterly oblivious to the others feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day one.

**Author's Note:**

> Linctavia starts next chapter. Enjoy this fragment of my mind.  
> \---With my awful planning and my little knowledge of the american school system I realised that there was next to nothing about how old these people are. So, basically all of them are either 17 or 18. I have a feeling I have written that they are sophomore's but after some research I realise this makes them too young, so here you are. (I've put this on the first chapter too, for anyone reading this in the future).---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Linctavia starts next chapter. If there is a next chapter, I'm not sure yet.
> 
> this -blah blah- is their thoughts.
> 
> Enjoy.

Clarke. Octavia. Raven. Bellamy. Monty. Jasper.

Just them, with the occasional visitor-Anya usually. Sure, people had come and gone; girlfriends and boyfriends but no one stayed to braid themselves into the tightly knit group of friends. There where to many inside jokes that couldn't be understood. Very few people been able to penetrate the wall of friendship that the six of them shared. 

It was always California Clarke had lived in, it was always those friends she had, it was always the same house she had lived in. Clarke had never really had change, though she did sometimes crave it.

This was mirrored in Clarke's life. It was a constant stream of water, sometimes it would change but never anything big. Just a small change, something gradual. Sometimes the change would be an injury or sometimes an argument or sometimes another person. It always went back to normal after a while though, like nothing changed. Life threw something at Clarke and hit her in the back of the head but in the end she'd throw it straight back.

Clarke liked these changes, they fuel her.

***

Lexa moved to California a week ago, it was different moving this far, her family and herself had moved from neighbourhood to neighbourhood because of her parents demanding jobs but never this far. Now, she had to leave her friends. There where other things to leave behind (of course) but they were never always there like her friends had been.

Costia. Luna. Nyko. Lincoln. Sure, it was only the five of them (and one of them was her brother) but they had never been that open to anyone but each other. Their little group was tightly knit and practically impenetrable. That's why Lexa was so devastated to move to California and leave all of them, except Lincoln-her brother-behind.

Her brother was another constant in her life, she would say her parents but they had always been around, they hadn't always been there. They would change a lot, her mother mostly. But her brother was the most reliable person in her life, he listen to Lexa enough and he spoke to Lexa enough and vise versa. Their relationship was good.

***

Through the hustle and bustle Ark High's hallways, Octavia and Clarke tried to get a conversation in before entering Mr. Wallace's English class.

"Did you hear there are new kids?" Octavia asks Clarke.

"Two? Why would anyone come here?"

"Yeah, brother and sister. Also, you realise that we are one of the highest ranked schools in this general area."

"That's because we are one of the only schools in the area, O." Clarke says, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Octavia pushes through the English room door and answers, quietly this time, "Whatever, Griffin."

They sit down at their usual seats and ignore the eye of Mr. Wallace glaring at them because of their late-ness.

***

"Alright, you know where your first class is?" Lincoln asks his little sis.

"Yes, Linc. Even if I didn't you know I wouldn't ask anyone for help." Lexa answers matter of factly.

"Yeah, yeah. It's customary for me. I'm the brother. I took an oath." Lexa chuckles at her brothers upbringing of the non-existent oath he talks about sometimes. "Remember, Anya wants to meet us in the courtyard, so find that and meet me there."

"Right. I can make friends on my own though."

"It's not to make friends it's to see the cousin that we haven't seen for the past 15 years." Lincoln says, trying to be nonchalant.

"I know you and Dad think I'm bad at making friends. Don't sweat it."

Lincoln looks at her guiltily, "Shut up, smart ass."

***

Half way through registration the door creeks open. "I'm Lexa Heda, is this Mr. Wallace's English?"

Wallace looks to her and nods, "It is, you can take a seat."

"Told you." Octavia mumbles to Clarke.

Who Clarke assumes is the new girl sits at the empty desk in front of Clarke and Octavia's and earns a wolf whistle from Murphy, she responds with a hard glare which earns a smile from Clarke and a few sniggers from around the room. As she turns back to the front Lexa's eyes meet Clarke's for a spilt second and Clarke offers her a small smile, hopefully conveying more than it shows.

What Clarke wants to convey, she is unsure about.

***

Through first and second lesson all Lexa could think about was what friends that Anya was going to introduce her to. She had made a mental check list to go through when she meets them. Not to extroverted; not making her do things she didn't want to; not _insanely_ boring. Lexa just didn't like to be out of her comfort zone, she knows what she likes and her stubbornness wasn't about to let that change.

***

The courtyard in Ark High was pretty big, surprisingly so for the size of the school wasn't very big. The diamond shape may have made it seem bigger and the lack of a roof as well. Lexa walked to where she noticed Lincoln standing sightly nervous to meet the people she might be spending the next 2 years with, though she would be accompanied by her brother it still dawned on her that these people might suck, they might be horrendous.

"Hey, Lexa!" Lexa frowned and turned to the unfamiliar voice.

Jogging towards her she noticed a face that she did recognise.

"Anya? Wow, you've changed!" Lexa tried to convey confidence even though she was nervous.

"Yeah, I could say the same for you. It's been a while. Where's Lincoln?" 

"He's-"

"I'm right here!" A voice says from behind Lexa, making her smile.

"Woah, out of the two of you I don't know who's changed the most." Anya says, eyes wide.

"Well Lexa's gay now so...I think that one-ups me." This gets a glare and soft punch from Lexa. "What? It's not like I'm lying!"

Anya chuckles at the exchange and Lexa can't help the surprise (and comfort) that washed over her about Anya not mentioning her sexuality or being surprised about it.

"Come on, guys. I'll go introduce you to some people. I think you'll like them, even though I haven't spoken to you guys in a while I think you'll like them."

As Anya leads Lincoln and Lexa through the small crowds of students she can feel the many eyes on them. She never understood why people made a big deal out of the new kids. It's not like it's abnormal, it's a change, get over it.

They arrive at a long wooden bench and Lexa can't help but feel a small bit of happiness run through her as she sees who is at the table. There are a few of them-six to be precise- but it isn't the number, it's the people. She recognises the blonde and the brunette from English, two boys she knows, Monty and Jasper, from her science class second period, another boy she doesn't know and a dark-ish skinned girl with brown hair she also doesn't know.

"Hey, guys this is Lexa and Lincoln. I thought I would introduce them to you because I know how much you love to tell dumb stories about each other." The students snigger around the table and Anya carries on, "Also, you seemed like you'd have something in common."

"Lexa, Lincoln, this is Clarke," Anya pointed to the blonde girl on the opposite end to her, "Octavia," She pointed to the brunette in her English class who is sitting next to Clarke, "Raven," The other dark haired girl opposite them, "Bellamy," Who is next to Raven, "Then Monty and Jasper."

There was more than enough room for Lincoln and Lexa to fit on the end. Lexa slid in first, next to Octavia and Lincoln sat down next to Lexa. Anya lowered herself onto the end seat.

"So, hows your first day treating you?" The one she recalled as Monty asked her, with shining eyes.

"Easy enough, English was endurable and I enjoy science. I am not looking forward to Maths though." She answered.

"Yeah, I noticed that you are pretty good at science, maybe you could tutor me, I need it." Monty said, a beat went past when nothing was said so Monty carried on, "Aren't you in Wallace's English?"

Lexa nodded, then a thought dawned on her, "Wait, how do you know that?"

Monty froze, Raven let out a laugh and the rest of the table stayed quiet until Jasper sighed and said, "Clarke told us about you."

-Oh.- Lexa was surprised, she hadn't said anything to Clarke, they had just smiled to each other, what was there to say?

"Not anything bad, just that you're new and...um...I-"

"Clarke thinks you're pretty. Damn, Griffin why was that so hard?" Raven butts in to help her with her words.

-Oh.- "I did not think it would be anything bad, we haven't even said that much. Thank you though." Lexa said, trying to sound like she isn't curious as to what Clarke is saying about her. Lexa just doesn't feel like that's the whole story.

***

The rest of the break goes by quickly, before Lexa knows it the school day is over and she's walking home with her brother. Before Lexa knows it, they're lost in rows and rows of nearly identical houses with a laughing Lincoln by her side.

"Come on, Lexa! This is funny." He says between chuckles.

"Lincoln, we are lost and no one can pick us up." Her tone juxtaposing her brothers. "This is anything but funny."

***

Clarke separates from Bellamy, Octavia and Monty at the cross roads they always do and say good-bye to them, she walks down the road she's been walking down for years. -I could do this with my eyes closed- When she notices two figures, one significantly taller and just bigger in general. She smiles a little, seeing how different the two are, the larger figure is bent over slightly because he is laughing and the other one-a girl-is stood their stiffly. It takes Clarke a while but she realises that the large figure is Lincoln and the smaller is Lexa. Her stomach fills with butterflies at the thought of Lexa for a moment and she frowns. Though it does confuse her Clarke chooses to ignore it.

"Hey! Guys!" Clarke yells, jogging up to them. Lexa's head whips around and Clarke beams at her, mostly out of instinct. Lexa smiles back, a small one that she's been doing most of today.

"Clarke, good. We're lost." Lincoln turns to Clarke and says.

"No we aren't, we're fine." Lexa says abruptly.

Lincoln looks to Lexa with a inquisitive look on his face and turns back to Clarke while saying, "No, we're lost. Do you know where 19 Silverton Avenue is?"

Clarke knows exactly where that is, in fact it's next door to her. She frowns internally as she pieces it all together and is unsure of why she didn't realise that they were the new neighbours that her parents were talking to her about.

"I know." She turns to Lexa who is more grumpy looking, Clarke wipes the smile off of her face at the thought that maybe Lexa wasn't as happy as Clarke thought she was today. She doesn't let herself dwell on it though.

***

After about 5 minuets of walking and listening to Clarke talk about how 'Yes, all the houses in this neighbourhood do look the same.' Lexa can help but be in a better mood. She isn't really sure why she was in a bad mood, Clarke was just helping. It's not like she forced her to do something. -You're just too stubborn Lexa- echos in her head.

When Lexa stars to recognise the area she perks up, knowing that after too long she finally gets to sit down and do nothing, she does have some homework to get out of the way but that's easy enough.

"Here you go." A perky vice pulls Lexa out of her thoughts and she looks over to Clarke, a small smile that she can't hide from Clarke appears on her face-she can learn to stop that from happening...right?

"Thank you, Clarke. I hope you didn't go out of your way. To get us here." Lexa says to Clarke.

"Not at all, in fact, it's exactly en route. We're neighbours."

-Oh.- Is all Lexa can think. So she says, "That's convenient."

-Nice one Lexa, who even says that? Why did you say that?-

Clarke's smile falters and Lexa's stomach drops for a second, Lexa smiles to Clarke and waves goodbye to Clarke before crossing her front garden and walking through their unlocked door of their blank canvas of a house.

Lexa stands for a while before the door closes and she hears Lincoln say, "Convenient? Really?"

Lexa groans and walks to her room. Lincoln following after her.


	2. Crushes and such.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Octavia and Lincoln get somewhere.  
> Lexa and Clarke are oblivious to themselves and each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this didn't take too long.

Lincoln is sitting on Lexa’s mattress (It would be her bed but that has yet to be put together). Lexa has had her head in her hands and laying on her back in the middle of the floor for a while.

“So, you’ve got a crush on this girl already, huh?” Lincoln says even though she knows she’ll deny it.

“I don’t have a crush on her.” Lexa deadpans. It makes Lincoln smile when she does this. She denies everything she can until it happens, then when it does she goes to Lincoln for help.

Lincoln makes his voice higher, trying to sound like Lexa, “That’s convenient.” Lexa shoots up

Lexa bolts upright and glares at Lincoln. Only gaining a proud smile form Lincoln. “Shut up. I don’t even know what that was. I got confused because” Lincoln can see the cogs turning in her mind, “because I didn’t expect it. You know how I get when I don’t expect things.”

“Yes Lexa, I do. You get way too confident for your own good and someone ends up angry. I really don’t know how you do it.” Lincoln counters. “You don’t get all hesitant and say two words and then walk off like nothing happened.”

“I don’t have a crush on Clarke. It’s too early to even know if I do have a crush on her. I’ve only known her for a day.” Lincoln gives her a look that says ‘You realise what you just said, right?’ and Lexa swiftly adds, “Which I don’t.”

-Yeah, okay. You just wait.- Lincoln thinks. “Alright, I’ll drop it now.”

“Anyway, what about you? Do you have anyone who has peeked your interest?” Lexa says, trying to change the subject.

“If you would have looked at me instead of Clarke you would have seen.” Lincoln says under his breath. “Yeah, Octavia’s beautiful. I’m thinking about asking her out but with a face like hers I think she is with someone.” Lincoln says solemnly.

“You should ask a third party, like Monty or Jasper.” Lincoln is always surprised at how good Lexa is at relationship advice even though she hasn’t ever been in one herself.

“Yeah, good idea. Later, nerd.” Lincoln says, satisfied with the conversation. Lincoln hops over Lexa’s leg, opens the door, crosses the hall and goes directly to his own which is across from Lexa’s. Lincoln scoops up his laptop and flops down his giant body on his own bed-less mattress.

“I’m not a nerd!” Is yelled across the hall.

“Your nerd posters say otherwise!”

“Supernatural isn’t nerdy!”

Lincoln leaves the exchange there because he knows it won’t win anytime soon.

After about two minutes of searching (There aren’t very many Octavia’s on Facebook.) Lincoln sends a friends request to Octavia Blake. He can find the rest of the group later.  
***

Clarke is laying in her bed, she has been for a while thinking about the single word ‘Convenient’. Who even uses that word out loud? What the hell? Why would she say that?

-Wait, no, now it sound like I’m angry- Clarke thinks.  
Instead of thinking about the new girl next door Clarke whips out her phone to talk about the new girl next door.

 **Clarke:** What do you guys think of Lexa and Lincoln?  
**Raven:** Lexa’s hot and mysterious. Lincolns hot and ginormous.  
**Jasper:** Agree ^^^^  
**Jasper:** Except the Lincoln bit.  
**Octavia:** I call dibs on Lincoln!!!!  
**Bell:** Only with my consent.  
**Octavia:** I don’t need your consent Bell.  
**Monty:** They seem nice. I think they are good people.  
**Clarke:** Thanks, Monty. THAT’S THE KIND OF FEED BACK I WANTED.  
**Raven:** Why do you even need our feedback?  
**Raven:** Wait. Clarke. Do you like one of them?  
**Octavia:** I ALREADY CALLED LINCOLN.  
**Bell:** Only when I decide he’s good enough, sister.  
**Octavia:** Whatever, Bell.  
**Jasper:** But I want Lexa!  
**Monty:** With all due respect, that’ll never happen, Jasper.  
**Raven:** Yeah, Jasper. I’d be more likely to get her.  
**Clarke:** But we all know Raven’s not getting anywhere with her ‘little’ crush.  
**Clarke:** This is getting off topic. I don’t like Lexa I was just wondering what you guys thought of the Hedas.  
**Octavia:** They even have a hot last name.  
At that Clarke sighed and put her phone down, she scrolled her social media for a while before giving into the temptation and looking Lexa Heda up on Facebook, luckily there are very little people on the internet called Heda so Lexa had been friend requested in an instant. Not only had she been friends requested Lexa on Facebook but she had begun thoroughly stalking her. The first thing she noticed about Lexa’s timeline was that she is pretty close to Lincoln. Another was that she didn’t have a lot of people around her. The third is that she does have, what looks like, loyal and life-long friends. Costia. Luna. Nyko. Those were their names, Lexa always looks so happy in her pictures with her friends.

Clarke is always drawn to Lexa’s eyes in photos, they have stories inside them and art. The forest-y green of them tell Clarke so much about them, then there’s the brownish tint that gives them depth and-

-This is making me sound like a hippie. What the hell, me?-

Clarke is always drawn to Lexa’s smile, in all her pictures. It’s always there even just a little one Clarke can make it out. She can’t wait to be the reason for that smile. She can’t wait to be Lexa’s friend, properly not just a person she knows, not just a friendly acquaintance. Lexa would be a good friend. Lexa is a good person. Lexa’s Lexa.  
***

Lincoln has been trying to find a Jasper and Monty the whole of today, he couldn’t ask about Octavia in front of Octavia so he tried to catch them in History. He still doesn’t know what to think about this school or this state or these people but he knows that the people he has met are good and mean well. Lincolns good at judging character, that’s a good trait to have. People always think he’s just a big guy with a lot of muscles. That’s a pet peeve of his, when people think he’s nothing but muscle.

When Lincoln does find Jasper and Monty outside History he goes straight to them to ask them about Octavia.

“Hey Jasper. Hey Monty. Can I ask you something?” Lincoln’s pretty sure he sees Jasper tense up so he smiles at him kindly.

-I’m not a pile of angry muscle, Jasper.-

“Yeah, sure.” Monty says easily. Jasper stands there looking fairly afraid despite Lincolns smile.

“Good, okay. So, does Octavia have anyone? Like a boyfriend?” He hesitates. “Or girlfriend?” He adds.

Jasper laughs a little. Lincoln frowns at him. “Sorry, dude. You look so nervous and” He chuckles again. “And Octavia’s straight as a board.”

Monty shoots him a look, “What Jasper’s trying to say is that; no, she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

Lincoln internally high-fives himself. He just smiles externally.

“Thanks Monty. You guys are cool.”

“Thanks, that’s okay. By the way, Bellamy’s kind of…” Lincoln zones out then, he doesn’t need to know about Bellamy, all he has on his mind is Octavia.

***

Lexa hasn’t got a lot to do after school. This is different for her, she used to be part of a lot of clubs, she used to go to her friends’ houses a lot or just find something broken to fix. But today she has to unpack, put things together and do homework. That isn’t a lot, not for her at least.

“Hey, Lexa!” A familiar voice says from down the hall. She spins around to come face to face with Octavia and Clarke. Being flanked by Bellamy, who doesn’t look particularly pleased with anything. Octavia is looking as happy as always and Clarke has a little smile on her face.

-They are the entire happiness spectrum.- Lexa thinks.

“Hey guys.” She wants to say more but there isn’t anything to say when you are waiting for a maths lesson. Also Lexa’s pretty sure she said ‘Hey guys.’ While looking only at Clarke so she doesn’t say anymore she can’t think of anything to say when she looks at Clarke’s eyes. She only noticed her eyes today; at break they were sat at next to each other and Lexa actually noticed Clarke’s features. Her eyes mostly. They blend in with the sky so much they may as well be it. They are always so wide and wondering Clarke always looks like a kid experiencing something for the first time, even when she’s just looking at a stop sign.

Just because Lexa thinks this doesn’t mean she has any feelings for Clarke though. She’s sure of it.

“Are you looking forward to your first maths lesson?” Clarke asks her, waking Lexa from her daydream.

“Defiantly not. I hate maths.” She answers glumly.

“Ha. Doesn’t everyone?” Octavia says to her.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“There’s a spare seat on our table if you want to sit there. After you’ve introduced yourself and stuff.” Clarke asks her.

Lexa nods slowly and a smile forms on her lips.

-That doesn’t happen.-

When Clarke smiles back to her she can’t help herself, her smile grows a little.

-I can let this be a habit. It’s not so bad.-  
***

Clarke doesn’t really focus in maths. She just thinks ‘I hate maths.’ In Lexa’s voice. Lexa has sat in maths getting everything right, doing all the work and answering most of the questions. When Sir asks the class to do some sheet work Octavia says exactly what Clarke is thinking, “I hate maths.”

Lexa’s head turns from the sheet on the table to Octavia’s face.

“What?” Lexa says.

“You are literally owning this entire class. How can you not like maths? You’re fantastic.” Octavia says.

“Yeah but just because I’m good at it doesn’t mean I enjoy it.” Lexa says nonchalantly.

“But this is maths and you’re good at it.” Clarke chimes in, “Do you understand that?”

“Yeah, I get that but I hate maths. It’s super boring.”

This goes on for a while, Octavia still can’t grasp it by the end of the day and now everyone wants to be tutored which only results in Lexa being visibly overwhelmed by people wanting to spend time with her.

When the whole group is at the table they’re all deep in discussion, Clarke doesn’t know what sort of discussion because she has been admiring the outfit that Lexa’s wearing today.

-The outfit. Not the body.- Clarke thinks.

Lexa’s wearing a plaid shirt, red and blue with some black, it’s done up to her neck with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She has Doc. Martins and black ripped jeans on her bottom half. Her hair is tied back in an intricate braid that looks like she spend hours upon hours on it. She looks good. She looks like she planned it but Clarke doubts she did. Lexa seems like a person who doesn’t have to try and look good, she’ll just fall out of bed and look like a model.

-I can’t wait to get to be this girls friend.- Clarke thinks.  
***

The next day Octavia and Bellamy are walking straight down to her Morning waiting spot when she sees Lincoln waiting in that very spot they usually do. Her heart does a small flip when she looks to her and smiles. Octavia has developed a pretty big crush for this guy.

“Hey Linc. What’s going on?” Octavia says, mentally kicking herself for what she just said.

“Nothing much, I wanted to ask you something.” Lincoln says with nervousness clear in his voice.

“Yeah, shoot.”

“Um…okay. I was just wondering if you would like to go out with me on Saturday. If you aren’t busy. And if you want to.” Lincoln rushes to say. 

Octavia breaks out in a smile she can’t contain and wills her stomach to stop being an acrobat.

“Of course I do. I look forward to it.” Octavia answers.

“Awesome. I’ll message you the details.”

Octavia’s heart skips a beat when Lincoln reaches down to kiss her on the cheek. When he has parted from her Lincoln turns to Bellamy to nod goodbye but visibly stops. When Octavia returns from her temporary high she also looks to her brother. Unlike Octavia, Bellamy has a raging fire in his eyes.

“Brother, don’t.” Octavia says.

“Wait, brother?” Lincoln says.

“Yes. Bellamy’s my brother.”

“This isn’t happening.” Bellamy says sternly.

“Um, excuse me? That’s not your choice, Bellamy.”

“I don’t think that’s for you to say, Bellamy.” Lincoln chimes in.

“Please.” Bellamy scoffs, “You have nothing to you. You’re a hunk of muscle and nothing more.”

“You’re right.” Lincoln says sarcastically, “you are the keeper of your sister.”

Octavia watches on, not able to do anything. Just waiting for it to blow up.

“I just want someone Octavia is worthy of.” Bellamy retorts.

-This is bad.- Octavia thinks.

“I’m not worthy?” Lincoln looks like he might explode. Bellamy has tensed entirely, with an unwavering, determined look in his eyes.

“No. You aren’t.”

-Uh. Oh.-

“Fine. We won’t be together then.”

Lincoln backs down and Bellamy looks triumphant. Octavia feels like her everything she has just seen has been a dream but when Lincoln turns to her and winks before he leaves she gets the message. Secret relationship.

She’s still furious with Bellamy though and she sits in their morning spot, avoiding eye contact and puts in her head phones.


	3. The Date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for a date.  
> I'm testing out the Anya/Raven thing.

When Octavia was asked out on a date by Lincoln Heda she had no idea what to expect. She had asked Lincoln what to wear and he had said ‘Nothing to Formal. Something you will be comfortable in.’ This two sentence message hadn't helped her predicament, she didn't want to tell anyone with the possibility of it slipping out their moth and Bellamy going ape-shit again. So it was down to Octavia to guess what to wear.

On the morning of Saturday she had decided on High waisted dark-grey jeans, a royal blue top and her favourite dark grey converse-sure they were a bit beaten up but they were still her favourite. She also added some sunglasses with the mix to. With her hair thrown up in a messy bun she headed out to meet Lincoln at their designated spot; the park. Octavia doesn't have to be sneaky on her way out, Bellamy had gone out to Jasper and Monty to do whatever the hell they do.

\---

Lincoln is nervous. Even the thought of seeing Octavia makes butterflies erupt in his stomach that feeling makes him feel like a child on the first day of school; A nervous wreck but desperate to let the day go on in a whirl-wind of what ifs.

He’s waiting outside of the park’s main entrance people walk past him giving Lincoln enormous smiles at the picnic basket that he’s carrying, kids running quicker than lightning oh-so desperate to be out in the open and see the ducks and climb the trees.

When Lincoln actually sees Octavia he stops for a while, not just that but it seems like the world stops, he feels a sudden urge to never let this moment go to waste. The way that the glasses Octavia wears are framing her face, the way that the blue crop-top she is wearing flutters slightly in the wind, the way that her entire vibe just lets out the I'm-not-really-trying-but-I-look-fucking-fantastic-anyway thing.

Octavia walks up to him, beaming, and her content-ness with the date makes Lincoln seem less nervous. Lincoln internally hopes that he hasn't gotten anything on his face and suddenly becomes aware of all the things that could be wrong with his appearance.

-I don’t believe I’m this nervous for a date. It’s just a date. But it’s a date with Octavia Blake.- He thinks to himself.

“Hey, you look great.” Lincoln greets Octavia.

Octavia smiles at the compliment, or so he hopes, maybe he has something in his teeth. “Thank you.” Octavia replies, “So, are you going to tell me what we’re doing or do I just have to guess and wonder this whole date?”

“Hmm,” Lincoln fake ponders the question, “I suppose I can tell you.”

“Thank god. The tension is killing me.” Octavia pulls a hand up to her chest and gasps. Lincoln lets out a small laugh and Octavia smiles.

As they start talking they start walking, “I was thinking we could take a walk, then I have this picnic,” Lincoln raises his picnic basket, “that we could eat whenever we get hungry and then we can do whatever until we get bored or until it gets dark or something.” 

The sentence started out with confidence then dissipated into shyness as Lincoln realised that Octavia might completely hate this date.

“That sounds great!” Octavia almost yells.

Lincoln looks up to meet her eyes and she smiles wide.

-Easy-going, that’s the word I think of when I see her.-

Absent-mindedly, Lincoln takes her hand in his own, only realising afterwards what he’s done. She doesn’t pull away so neither does he.

\---

The date goes as planned, they talk, and they laugh, and they eat, and at one point Octavia challenged Lincoln to a tree climbing completion.

“Really? You realise I’m going to win, right?” Lincoln said.

“Please. I might look like I’m from the sky but I have a lot of experience on the ground.” Octavia replied.

“I’ve only ever been on the ground, it’s just more logical that I win.”

It turned out that Lincoln did win, they climbed to a branch in the tree and Octavia accused him of cheating. Octavia did loose but only by a few seconds, Lincolns just…bigger than Octavia.

When the date ended the day was also close to ending, Bellamy had texted Octavia that he was leaving Monty and Jasper so Octavia had to be home before him. The day had been good, there were memories made and pictures taken, memories that they both hoped would last a long time.

\---

On the Monday after that Lincoln was still in a good mood and Lexa couldn’t really figure out why. She had asked him but he had just brushed it off as “I just went out and had a good time.” She wanted to leave it at that and she did. Or she tried. It was still there in the back of her mind but Lexa tried her hardest to ignore it.

It was first break, she was walking up to the groups designated table in the courtyard and smiled, they were clearly having a very heated debate.   
As she lowered into her seat Raven exclaimed, “Good, Lexa’s here.” All eyes turned to her, “Who is more attractive, Cara Dele-blah-something-something or Zendaya?”

“It’s Cara Delevingne.” Monty chimes in.

Lexa furrows her brow, “Based purely on looks?”

They all nod.

“Yeah, sis. Unleash your lesbian.”

“Dude. What the-“ Lexa begins to say.

“WAIT. LEXA.” Raven exclaims, “You’re gay?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool. I’m bisexual, so is Clarke and Monty. Sorry, Jasper.” Raven fake grimaces at him, Lexa just brushes it off when Jasper blushes and looks away figuring he might have been interested.

“Okay, nice.” Lexa replies, “Zendaya.”

Everyone looks at her with a confused expression on their faces. “The more attractive.”

A chorus of “Ohh”’s and Raven says, “Yes! See, I told you Lexa would agree.”

“Really, sister?” Lincoln chimes in.

“Yeah, I’m surprised you don’t agree. You usually lean towards brunettes.” Lexa raises an eyebrow and tilts her head slightly in Octavia’s direction.

“Funny.”

“Anyway, everyone else said Cara?” Lexa says, turning towards the rest of the group, who were watching the exchange.

They all nod, except Raven, and Lexa gives them a look which only ends up everyone breaking out in why Cara is more attractive than Zendaya. The words she caught out of many were-eyebrows, cheekbones and eyes.

\---

Raven has always hated Social Studies. She doesn’t understand what there is to it. She can be social, isn’t enough to pass? No, apparently because now she has some partner project to do about anthropology. Humans, if you want to know about them spend a day in a crowded shop and a night in Vagas.

When Sir was calling out the pairs Raven had completely zoned out, whoever was her partner can approach her. She was just morning the fact that she had to deal with some crap-head of a partener for the next few weeks. That’s when Anya pulls a chair up to the other end of the desk. That’s when Ravens stomach burst into butterflies and nerves.

“Um, hi?” Raven says, confused as to why Anya is in front of her.

“Yeah, so we’re partners.”

-don’t say hi back, then. Wait, partners? –

“Oh. Okay, cool.” Raven just about says.

“Okay, so I think that we should do our project about tattoos and the things that they influence and how they influence other people.” Anya says, clearly confident.

-She is literally perfect.-

“Yeah, that’s great. Great idea.” Raven pulls out. “Great.” She mumbles.

“So, we should start planning.”

\---

Clarke heard Raven come into the courtyard. She heard her huffs and puffs, she heard something fluttering in the wind.

“Guys. We have a problem.” Raven announced at the end of the table.

“And what’s that?” Bellamy asks.

Raven doesn’t speak. She just slams down a flyer on the table. Clarke had noticed these flyers all around school, on bulletin boards, on some people’s lockers, some people had them in their hands showing friends. Clarke didn’t take notice of them though.

Octavia picked it up and groaned. Passed it down the table, while making room for Raven, and one by one everyone read it and painfully groaned. Except when it got down to the Heda’s, then Clarke explained.

“Every year the school has a contest. There is always a different theme, last years was sports the year before that was ‘The Big Three’ or Science, Maths and English. This years is quizzes. The students who can bother to come and compete create teams. They all have a different room in the school and have to stay there for the duration of the time, until a team wins.”

“So if it isn’t compulsory, just don’t go.” Lexa suggests.

“No.” Monty and Jasper dead pan.

“We can’t do that because the first time we competed so did Murphy and his team. We drew. Every year since that one of us has won. For the last 2 years they have.”

“Okay. One question. Why is it called ‘Night Instead.’?” Lincoln asks.

“It takes place at night, instead of in the day time. We can skip school but only if we attend ‘Night Instead.”  
\---

 **Clarke:** We have to plan this day thoroughly. They have 5 categories.

 **Lexa:** How did you get my number?

 **Clarke:** Lincoln did it.

 **Lincoln:** What are the catagories?

 **Lexa:** Okay then.

 **Octavia:** Why do you get so worked up about this? Just live in PEACE!

 **Bellamy:** O, let’s be real.

 **Clarke:** The categories are, Riddles, Art, Songs, Shows and Puzzles.

 **Lincoln:** I can do riddles.

 **Lincoln:** And art.

 **Octavia:** Yeah, I guess.

 **Bellamy:** I can do riddles.

 **Raven:** Me and O on songs!

 **Octavia:** I approve this message.^^

 **Clarke:** I can do Art and shows.

 **Lexa:** I can do shows.

 **Clarke:** Lincoln you art?

 **Lexa:** Yeah, he’s awesome.

 **Lincoln:** I dabble.

 **Jasper:** Me and Monty are on puzzles.

 **Lincoln:** And Lexa. It’s a weird talent she has.

 **Lexa:** It’s true.

 **Clarke:** Okay, it’s like this:  
Puzzle-Jasper, Monty, Lexa.  
Riddles-Lincoln, Bellamy.  
Art-Clarke, Lincoln  
Songs-Raven, Octavia  
Shows-Clarke, Lexa

 **Raven:** Let’s shred them.

 **Octavia:** I’m still for peace.

 **Bellamy:** Yeah. That’s good. O, be real.

 **Jasper:** Let’s do this!

 **Monty:** Did Clarke just refer to herself in the third person?

 **Lexa:** Yes.

 **Lincoln:** Yeah.


	4. Secret relationships and Artwork.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa comes to her senses. Clarke is bad at maths. Lincoln and Octavia are trying to be ninjas (but failing (they just don't know that)).

Lexa does notice Clarke’s hair, Lexa does notice Clarke’s dress (which is just the right shade to match her eyes), and Lexa does notice that she has started to notice a lot of things about Clarke that she never, ever sees in other people-not even ones that she’s known for the majority of her life.

So, she notices that she might just have a teeny, tiny possibly growing crush on Clarke Griffin. Now she doesn’t know what to do.

“Lincoln!” Lexa yells.

“What!”

“Can you two stop yelling?!” Gustus, their Uncle yells. Their parents moved back to Washington a while ago because they had some sort of work, their parents to get their uncle Gustus to move in with them so they could have an adult around.

“Come in here!” Lexa yells, ignoring their Uncle.

Lincoln flings open the door and closes it again. “What?” He says, not yelling this time.

“I might have a problem.”

Lincoln makes a face. “Isn’t that like a girl thing? Shouldn’t you talk to Clarke about that? Or some other girl?”

“No, don’t be gross. It is about Clarke though.” Lincoln nods and sits on Lexa’s now constructed bed. “I think I have a little tiny crush on her.”

Lincoln laughs at her. Lexa gives him a look. “Well, I did say that on the first day.”

“Yeah, I guess but I didn’t even know. How would you have?” Lexa questions. As soon as the words are out of her mouth she knows that it’s a dumb thing to say.

“Oh, yeah, you’re right. I forgot I haven’t spent your whole life by your side. Whoops, my mistake.” He waits a beat. “Oh, wait a second. Yes I have.”

“Funny, brother.”

“Anyway, crushes on friends. At least you know she like girls.” Lincoln tries to show her the brighter side of this entire predicament.

“Yeah but I don’t know if she likes me and we walk home with her so it’s just going to be half an hour extra of, ‘is this flirting or is she just being nice?’” Lexa says, she knows she should be looking at the bright side but when something bad happens she just latches onto it and doesn’t let go.

They talk like that for another hour, until Gustus calls them down for dinner. Lexa is always thankful for how close Lincoln is to her.

It’s only until after they’ve all gone to bed that Lexa realises she hasn’t asked about Octavia.

\---

It’s weird for Lincoln to sneak around. It’s weird for Lincoln to not tell Lexa about Octavia, he was sure that when they were talking about the Clarke situation that Lexa would bring up Octavia. She didn’t though and Lincoln is thankful. He doesn’t think he would have been able to lie to her; not without her noticing.

Sneaking around is defiantly not Lincolns forte but having dates with Octavia, even if it is just for a few hours, is worth it. Octavia said that Lincoln can’t tell Lexa keeping things from her is killing him, he knows that she knows Lincoln is keeping something from her.

Except every time that Lincoln sees Octavia he understands why they sneak around but he also knows that some time someone will find out and when that day comes it won’t bode well for Lincoln or Octavia.

Also, when they have secret meetings just before people get suspicious of why they’re not at break it’s the best time that Lincoln gets to spend with Octavia.  
\---

“Dude, check it out.”

Jasper and Monty are walking to the court yard from their lesson when Monty points out a Lincoln and Octavia quietly holding hands in the corridor.

“I don’t believe it! The new kids come to school and take all the possible girlfriends I could get.”

“I don’t think it’s them, man.”

“Whatever. Don’t think I won’t use this against him though.”

“How would you use a good relationship against someone?”

“Shhhhh. I’ll work it out.”

“What si there to work out?”  
\---

“This is a practice test, on Friday it will be real so study hard and you will get a good grade. If you don’t the maths department will toy with the idea that some of you will be moved down. So, if you want to stay in this class with this group of people I suggest you get some maths suck in your brain.” Sir said in an aggressively monotone voice.

Lexa knew she wouldn’t be moved down so she didn’t have to worry, it might seem vain and rude to some people but it is obvious that Lexa is good at maths. How? She doesn’t know. Her family sucks at maths and nothing in her genes says she should be good at it so how she came out with a ‘Maths Brain’ (as Clarke and Octavia have called it) she has no idea.

The test is easy for her, some of the questions are more difficult than usual but she thinks she’s gotten a high B or a low A so she’s happy with the result.  
\---

-This test sucks.- Is all Clarke can think for the hour of Maths they have this lesson. The test sucks and it doesn’t help that every two minutes Lexa flicks over the page and starts the next question then, within seconds she has something scribbles down (in her awful handwriting (granted Clarkes isn’t the best but at least she has a reason, she’s an artist)) and then moves onto the next question.  
\---

After the test is over it’s the end of the day so Lexa waits with Clarke outside school for Lincoln, who is always let out late recently-another thing making her suspicious of what’s going on with him.

The walk home is normal, Lincoln and Clarke talk, Lexa nods along. Until, “Lexa, how did you think you did today? On the Maths test?” Clarke asks her.

“I think I got a B or maybe a low A… I think.” Lexa replies hoping that she won’t have to keep talking for much longer. With her new found crush on Clarke she gets all weird and stutter-y whenever they talk for extended amounts of time.

“Really? I think I did awfully.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”

“No, really.” They walk in silence for a while until Clarke pipes up again, “Tutor me.”

-Um, what?-

“What, um, do you mean?” Lexa tries to form a sentence.

“Yeah, in maths, tutor me.” Lexa gives her an incredulous look. “Please?”

-How can I tutor her if whenever I try to talk to her I stop knowing English?-

“Yeah, okay. I’ll tutor you.”

-What have you done.-

They approach their houses in silence but in Lexa’s head every thought possible is running riot and screaming.

“Bye Clarke.” Lincoln says as per usual.

Lexa waves but Clarke grabs her wrist and drags her towards her house. “Um, what…what are you doing?”

“We have to make a schedule.”

“Okay,” Lexa stumbles over her feet, “Can you do Saturday?”

“No no no no. We have to make a schedule.”

“Yeah, you said that. That’s what I’m doing.”

Clarke stops just outside her door and Lexa stumbles to a stop just behind her. When Clarke whips around their faces are unbelievably close. Lexa squeaks. She squeaks.

“Did you just squeak?”

“No.” Lexa says abruptly.

“You did.”

“No.

“I’m never forgetting that.”

Clarke turns back around and unlocks her door, taking a step in.

Lexa swiftly follows and says, “Please do.”

It’s only when they are in Clarke’s room that Lexa realise that she is in Clarke’s house and wow Clarke is really good at art. Also, Clarke’s room is giant.

“Excuse the mess.”

“The mess is referring to…”

“My desk, the walls, my bed, the floor.”

The desk is a mess. There is paint of all colours stained on the surface and there are pots of pencils and pens and paintbrushes and…screws. There is only a little bit of clean surface left on the desk and it’s occupied by a laptop that looks 100 years old.

The walls aren’t messy more like non-existent. From what Lexa can see they are a dark purple (whether or not they are supposed to be dark is another question). There is one wall, one wall that Lexa can’t take her eyes off. It has charcoal drawing on it, there are trees that run along the skirting boards and there are birds and rivers and mountains accompanying them. It looks comforting to Lexa. It looks…her. Along the top there is space, like outer space not space to be filled. There are stars and moons and planets and space ships and they are beautiful.  
The bed and the floor are messy, but it teenager-messy not I’m-a-professional-artist-in-the-making messy.

“Um, these are…wow.”

Clarke chuckles, “Thank you.” A beat. “So, what days are good for you?”

“What?” Lexa forgot about the tutoring thing, “Oh yeah, um, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and…I think that’s it.”

Lexa turns her attention back to Clarke and stops looking at the art on all her walls.

“You’re only free three days of the week? Damn, what do you do all day, Heda?”

-TV Shows, mostly.-

“Um,”

-Come up with something that makes you sound good Lexa.-

“TV Shows, mostly.” Is what falls out of Lexa’s mouth.

-Wow. Or that.-

“Yeah, I get that. Okay, I can do all of those days so do you want to start tomorrow? Or we can wait until after school on Monday or something.”

“Yeah, let’s start tomorrow. What time should I be here?”

“Like 11? Then we can eat at 12 and have a break then carry on afterwards.”

“Okay. See you then.”  
\---

“Look whose back from her make out session!” Lincoln calls from the kitchen as he hears the door slam.

“Whatever. I’m just her tutor.”

“And her make out buddy?”

“Long from it, Pal.”


	5. Revision and Work.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Raven is oblivious; Anya returns the feelings; Lexa is a detective; Octavia, Raven and Clarke are stunned; Clarke is still bad at maths.

Chapter 5

All Lexa can think is-

-Just act normal. You remember that. Normal.-

But she can’t because every time she sees Clarke’s face she can only think-

-Wow, she’s great.-

Or something along those lines. When she realises that Clarke is talking to her and expects an answer there isn’t one to be given because she. Wasn’t. Listening. So every conversations he has with Clarke is a string of, “Pardon?” “What?” “What did you say?” “Where you talking to me?”  
\---

 

“Are we still on for today?” Clarke hears from beside her.

Clarke turns to see Lexa in a plain white top which are tucked into some high-waisted black jeans. Her hair is back in the usual complicated braid that always looks…Lexa-y.

“We are.” They carry on walking to the courtyard. They both came from science but Lexa usually finds Clarke on the way so that they can walk together.

“Awesome. Are you coming to my house you are we going to yours?” Lexa asks her.

-She seems nervous.-

“Um, we can alternate. Yours, mine, yours and so on.”

“Okay. Cool. So, mine today.” Lexa says hesitantly.

“Yeah.”

“Is there anything in particular that you want to go over?”

“You actually sound like a teacher right now.”

They get to the table and everyone shifts down and they sit opposite each other.

Lexa put on a stern face, “Looky her missy. If you really want to do good in this world you gotta be serious, you gotta be resilient.” Clarke burst out laughing and Lexa sat there proudly, silently loving the fact that she made Clarke laugh.

“You sounded like someone from Boston. Not a teacher is California.”

“Is that not how you hear teachers?” Lexa said, feigning innocence.

Clarke laughed a breathy laugh and shook her head, “Not really no.”

“Oh.” A beat, “No but seriously is there?”

“I don’t think so. I picked up a maths guide from Sir so we can look through that and see the things that need to be gone over but to be honest I think we should skim over all of it to make sure I have it all down.” Clarke says.

“Okay.”  
\---

Octavia loves Gym. Gym hates Octavia but that why she loves it. While waiting outside the changing rooms Octavia abruptly decides to tell Clarke and Raven about the relationship that her and Lincoln have. (They made it official on the weekend…Or as official as it can be when there are only two of you who know.) Octavia was thinking about it for a long time but she always figured that she should ask Lincoln first instead of just guessing that he would be okay with it.

But now it’s getting out of hand, she has millions of pictures of Lincoln and herself on her phone and she’s never really been a closed off person so when people-the people closest to her-ask to look something up on her phone she gets antsy and basically interrogates them.

She may as well get them to sign something that says they won’t be looking at her photos.

“Guys I need to tell you something.”

“YOU’RE GAY.” Raven whisper-shouts.

“What? No. Your crush on me will never be satisfied.”

“Oh, but Octavia ple-“

“No, Raven. This will never work for us.” Octavia slipped into character.

“But…I need you in my life. Octavia…I can’t handle things on my own.” Raven also, slid into character.

“Look, you mean a lot to me and I don’t want to loo-“

“Guys? Octavia? You wanted to tell us something.”

“Oh yeah.” Octavia turned back into herself. “I kind of have a Boyfriend.” Raven and Clarkes eyes widened dramatically. “Yeah, I know.”

“Who?” Raven and Clarke said in unison.

“Lincoln.” Their eyes widened more. Octavia burst into laughter, “You look like comic book characters.” She said through gasps.

“What are you laughing at?” Lexa’s voice said. Octavia’s eyes shot open ad Raven and Clarke whipped around.

“Octavia has a boy-“ Raven began.

“Raven. NO.” Octavia said.

“What is happening?” Lexa said, clearly completely confused.

“Um…Clarke. Clarke told a joke.” Octavia tried to cover for herself.

“Dude, be real. That’s not believable.” Raven shot out.

“I would have believed it but now I’m sceptical.” Lexa dead panned.

“What the hell, Raven? We could have just forgotten about it. Why’d you do that?” Clarke said, jokingly. Well, Octavia thought it was a joke.

“Guys, if you’re sputtering like this-“

“We weren’t sputtering.” Raven said.

“-You don’t have to tell me.”

“Okay, thanks.” Octavia looks relieved.

“But I want to guess.” Octavia’s face fell. She carried on, talking to no one in particular, “Let’s look at the facts. From Octavia’s laughing face, something was obviously funny but the way that Raven and Clarke were standing showed that they were tense so it was probably a serious and tense situation.”

“You can tell all that from the way they were standing?”

“Yes. Now, Raven began saying something when I first came here but Octavia stopped her. So Octavia must be the one delivering the information. Raven also began say the word ‘Boy’ so maybe that was the whole thing but before that you said, ‘Octavia has a.’ I’m pretty sure you aren’t pregnant so I would assume that it would have ended in friend. So you have a boyfriend but, and here’s where it gets interesting, who is the boyfriend?”

“How is she doing this?” Octavia whispers to herself.

“Observation.”

-Or maybe not to herself.-

“It is most likely it is someone in the friend group, though that might be wrong. But let’s start there anyway. It’s not Bellamy; he’s your brother. It’s not Jasper; you’ve shown no interest in the interest he has shown you. Monty is a suspect but it is unlikely, he hasn’t shown a great deal of relationship interest in you. That leaves Lincoln or someone out of the friend group. Lincoln has been spending an awful lot of weekends away and has been significantly more protective of his phone and you and him always end up at break late and a few minutes between each other.”

Octavia, Raven and Clarke are equally stunned.

“Lincolns your boyfriend.”

“Woah.” Clarke says.

Raven slow claps.

“Psshhhh. What? No. Don’t just assume things. That doesn’t make sense. There are so many gaps in your…your…You are wrong.” Octavia gets defensive.

“The lady doth protest too much.”

“Jesus Christ. Did you just quote Hamlet?” Clarke asks.

“Fine, you’re right but don’t tell anyone.” Octavia says.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Lexa tells her.  
\---

Clarke doesn’t concentrate in Gym. Why would she? Lexa is right there, in full sports gear, running around the football pitch hardly breaking a sweat.

-How does she do that? She just runs and nothing happens. She doesn’t get sweaty or red. Nothing.-

Their teacher put them into teams and told them, ’10 minutes and then you go up against another team.’ Or something along those lines but Clarke didn’t concentrate; Lexa was doing her shoe lases up and talking to Anya and her calf muscle was tensed and she is very muscly. Anya must have said something funny because Lexa smiled at her and Clarke just felt the urge to look at her, not, like, kiss her (she doesn’t think) but just look at her smile for a little while.

Now she’s up against a team and doing nothing but standing to the side of the pitch and moving up and down with the ball to make it look like she’s doing something.

But she’s looking at Lexa’s amazing football skills and how her muscles tense at that moment and she dodges someone at this moment and how she tackles someone at another.

-Admiration. That’s what it is. She’s admiring Lexa’s physique. Right?-  
\---

Raven’s nervous. 

-Why? I don’t get nervous. Oh, wait, Anya is across the bed from her with a little furrow in her brow that makes her look oh-so cute.-

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Anya says without looking at her.

“Like what?” Raven tries to act casual.

“You won’t stop looking at me with a weird look in your eyes.” Anya deadpans.

“Um, I was expecting you to say something b-because you are the one with the laptop and looking up the notes and I have the notebook.” Raven just gets out.

Anya looks at her incredulously and goes back to her tapping on the keyboard of her laptop. “Um, have you found anything of noteworthy…noting?”

The look Anya gives her makes her heart flutter. It’s a look that says, ‘You’re a total dork and it’s super dumb but that was super cute.’

But Raven thinks it says, ‘What the hell did you just say? That was silly and why?’

“Yeah, what do you think about doing the presentation about tattoos?” Anya suggests.

“Tattoos?” Raven is slightly baffled about how they are supposed to make a five minute presentation on tattoos.

“Yeah, what they mean to different cultures, how people present their inner selves through them, what different people think of them.”

Now Raven understands how to make a five minute presentation for tattoos.

“Yeah. Yeah, I like that. I want tattoos. I think they’re awesome.” Raven says without thinking, she carries on, “I want some that mean a lot to me and the people close to me but if a stranger saw them they would be confused as to what it meant, you know? Then people would have to come up to me and talk.”

Now it’s Anya with the weird look in her eye.

“Sorry, I probably sound really dumb.” Raven recoils from her previous statements confidence.

“No, it’s not dumb. It’s endearing.” Anya says, still with the look in her eye that Raven just can’t place.

-That’s a weird tone of voice. Sarcasm? Yeah, that would make sense.-  
\---

Clarke dropped off her stuff at home and grabbed her Maths text book before heading to Lexa’s house for their revision session. She knocked on the oak door a few times before stepping back and waiting for an answer. The person who answered the door wasn’t who she expected.

“Um, hi. I’m here for Lexa?”

The man was huge. With a big beard and tattoos on his arms and some on his face. Clarke couldn’t place if he was kinda chubby or if he was incredibly muscly or, perhaps, a mix of the two. Either way, he was ginormous, Clarke was intimidated, to say the least.

“You must be Clarke. I’m Gustus, Lexa’s Uncle.” The man, Gustus, says in an all too cheery voice with an all too nice smile. Clarke knows she’s staring at him with eyes wider than the sky but she can’t help it because he’s so nice and smiley but he’s ginormous and it is such a weird version of juxtaposition.

“I’m so sorry. I’m staring but, um, I…” Clarke doesn’t have a reasonable (and not incredibly rude) explanation for why she was staring.

“But my voice doesn’t suit my body and you’re stunned.” Gustus finishes.

Clarke nods slowly and says, “Yeah.”

“It’s okay. I get it a lot, I don’t mind.” Gustus says, “You can head up to Lexa’s room, it’s the first on the right.” He steps out of the way in order to let her through and gestures to the stairs.

“Thank you.” She mumbles.

Clarke takes the stairs two at a time, down the hall a little while until she sees the door on the right. There’s one at the end of the hall too but she figures that one’s Gustus’. The door on the left is probably Lincolns. Before Clarke got to the door to knock she heard some music, presumably Lexas; she puts her ear up against Lexa’s door.

-What am I doing? This is creepy.-

She stays there for a while.

-Yeah, from Lexa’s door.-

Clarke tries to figure out the words. It’s something along the lines of, “You fell asleep in my car, I drove the whole time, but that’s okay I’ll just avoid the hole so you sleep-“

“What are you doing?” I deep voice comes from behind her.

Clarke jumps at the words. With her eyes wide and her cheeks blushing, she turns to the owner of the voice. Lincoln. Clarkes mind races, trying to think of all the explanations as to why she had her ear pressed up against the door.

“Oh, hi. Lexa’s going to tutor me. In maths.” Clarke stutters out.

“Don’t you have to be, y’know, in the room.” Lincoln leans against the door frame with a smug look on his face.

“Yes. That would be a good thing to do. Yeah.”

“Okay. So why is your ear on the door?” Lincoln asks smugly. Clarke notices the song has changed.

“Because…I…I thought I recognised the song.” Clarke tries to formulate a sentence.

“So, why didn’t you just go in? If she’s expecting you?” Lincoln asks her, looking self-satisfied.

“Well, if you gave me sometime then I would have.” Clarke shoots back. Trying to think of a good come back (And failing miserably).

“You were standing there for some time.”

Clarke stands there with her mouth opening and closing, trying to find a good comeback. She slowly raises her hand and flips him off, turns around and knocks of the door. Lincoln chuckles and Clarke hears the door shut.

“Come in.” She hears from the other side of the door. Suddenly she gets nervous, maths usually makes her angry or annoyed. Not nervous. Why would she be nervous?

She opens the door and reveals a relatively plain room, there are some posters on the wall that she doesn’t recognise and some framed pictures of Lexa and what must be her friends. There’s a double bed in the middle with black and white sheets and a desk on the far wall on the right which is starching the whole length of the relatively large wall. Lexa’s sat on the bed cross legged with her laptop in front of her (also white).

“Hey.” Clarke says, feeling out of place.

“Hello.” Lexa says. “Are you ready to do some maths?”

“That’s a dumb question. Where should I put my stuff?” Clarke says, trying to be her normal self but unsure why it is so difficult for her to be.

“Just by the door is fine.” Lexa says, “So, what would you like to go through first?”

Clarke puts down her stuff, taking her maths revision book out, and makes her why over to Lexa’s bed. She hops on and sits cross legged, facing Lexa. Clarke flicks open the book and turns to the contents page. She squeezed shut her eyes and ran her pointer finger up and down the page. She stops her and opens her eyes.

“Finding the value of X.” Clarke reads from her page.

“Okay. Easy.”

“Shut up.” Clarke chuckles.  
\---

_**Clarke:** During the day of NI you’re all coming to mine_  
_**Lexa:** NI?_  
_**Octavia:** Night Instead_  
_**Lexa:** Oh_  
_**Lincoln:** What day is it on?_  
_**Raven:** November 15th_  
_**Lincoln:** Okay_  
_**Octavia:** I’ll be there_  
_**Monty:** Me too_  
_**Lexa:** What time?_  
_**Clarke:** 11:30_  
_**Lexa:** Me and Linc will too_  
_**Lexa:** What do we need to bring for NI_  
_**Bellamy:** Bring a double blow up mattress_  
_**Lincoln:** Got one_  
_**Clarke:** And A LOT of blankets_  
_**Clarke:** THAT GOES FOR EVERYONE_  
_**Clarke:** JASPER_  
_**Jasper:** Hey?! Monty didn’t bring anything either_  
_**Clarke:** Don’t make excuses_  
_**Monty:** Bruh_  
_**Clarke:** Mate_  
_**Raven:** Pal?_  
_**Jasper:** Buddy?_  
_**Clarke:** Dude?_  
_**Lexa:** What the hell is happening?_  
_**Octavia:** Just ignore it and it will stop_  
_**Clarke:** I can’t think of any other ones_  
_**Monty:** Me either_  
_**Raven:** Are we clear with that guys?_  
_**Jasper:** What?_  
_**Clarke:** That you’re all coming to mine at 11:30_  
_**Jasper:** Oh, right yeah, that’s good._  
_**Raven:** FRIEND!_  
_**Octavia:** Why does this happen?_


	6. Night Instead - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the wait! I'll try and update as soon as possible.

Clarke. Octavia. Raven. Monty. Jasper. Bellamy. Lexa. Lincoln.

That was all of them. All of them somehow squashed into Clarke’s living room at 11am in the morning. It wasn’t a big living room, it was big enough to fit about five people in them and now they have to fit nine of them in there. There was one 3-seater sofa, and a 2-seater with a glass and metal coffee table in the middle and a flat screen behind that table.

Raven and Octavia where sprawled out on the 2-seater. Octavia had her legs across Ravens lap and Raven had, somehow, gotten one of her legs on the arm of the chair. Lincoln, Clarke and Jasper are squashed onto the 3-seater. Clarke is on the back of the sofa in the middle, Jasper has his legs stretched along two of the pillows and Lincoln is mirroring that position. Monty, Bellamy and Lexa have opted to sit on the floor around the coffee table.

“So, how exactly does this thing work?” Lexa asks to no one in particular.

“What?” Raven says.

“The whole Night Instead thing, how do the points work?”

“You have to answer questions, the amount of points of get depends on the amount of questions you get right and the points awarded for those questions.”

“Okay. Do we have to stay up the whole night?”

“We stay up as long as we can. Answer as many questions as possible and then we get to do whatever we want with restrictions, obviously we can’t, like, murder someone.” Octavia answers.

“DAMN IT.” Lincoln yells, automatically getting everyone’s attention, “If we can’t murder people what on earth will we do.” A beat of silence, “All my plans. RUINED.” Lincoln yells again.

All that follows that is silence and then, “What the fuck, Lincoln.” From Raven.

Then bursts of laughter from Clarke followed by Jasper, Monty, Lexa and the rest of them. This lasts a while, until it dies down and everyone is left smiling.

“You’re such and idiot.” Lexa says from where she is now lying down on the floor. Everyone chuckles.

Clarke can’t help but think that she looks beautiful, with her hair in a braid over one shoulder and the edges of her eyes are crinkled with her smile which has stretched across her face. Lexa has a plain white shirt on with a black pocket and the sleeves folded up, she has black jeans on which also have the cuffs rolled up and classic high top converse as well.

-How does she always look so good? It’s like she doesn’t even try. I’ll have to ask her how she does it.-

Clarke has her eyes on Clarke’s mouth when she sees them move but she wasn’t listening.

“What?” Clarke says.

“We have the double blow-up mattress, how many pillows and blankets should we bring?” Lexa repeats.

“Oh, um, like, I don’t know. As many as you can carry.”

“Okay. Cool.” Lexa says.

“Hey Monty, did you get the room?” Bellamy asks.

Clarke zones out again, knowing that Monty has gotten the class room. He always does, Clarke doesn’t know how but he does. All of the teams have to stay in a certain room and it is up to the students to find a class room they can rent out for a while. Monty does it every year but no one knows how...or, come to think of it, whose room it is. Clarke zones out because of the way that Lexa’s got her fingers laced together with her palms down on her stomach. Her back is still on the floor, she’s looking up at the ceiling again with her brow furrowed a little.

-What does she see on my ceiling that is so confusing for her?-

“Clarke?” She hears. She wasn’t even sure who said it.

“Huh, what?” Clarke says, looking around the room.

“Where were you just then? You completely zoned out.” Raven says.

-So that’s who said it.-

“I don’t know, I forgot.”

“How can you forget what you were just thinking about?” Jasper chimes in.

“Shut up, it happens.” Clarke defends herself.

Everyone stays quite for a while, it’s comfortable and no one needs to say anything, they just sit there for a while until-

“Guys. I’m hungry.” Monty says.

“Yeah. Me too.” Lincoln agrees.

“Yeah, I need food.” Lexa, who is still laying staring at the ceiling, says.

“Someone go to the shop.” Octavia whines.

There are a chorus of “not it”’s and “nope.”’s until it was just Clarke left who hadn’t said anything. 

“Sorry Clarke, you’ve gotta go get some food.” Raven tells her.

“Screw you. This is my house. I’m not going anywhere.” Clarke defends.

There are some groans and some “That’s not how it works.”

“Fine, fine, fine. What do you want?”

“I’M ALWAYS A SLUT FOR DORITOS.” Raven bursts out.

There is a rage of laughter to follow that and Octavia slaps Raven around the head. Once they’ve all stopped laughing more orders come only to over whelm Clarke and have her say, “I’m not going to remember all of this someone has to come with me.”

Once again there are, “not it”’s and “nope”’s except from Lexa, who had presumably zoned out.

“Sorry Lex. You’re going to the shop with me.” Clarke says.

“What?” Lexa says, the furrow in her brow getting deeper.

“You. Are. Going. To. The. Shop. With. Clarke.” Octavia says, then she mumbles something to Raven that makes her giggle.

“Okay. What. Do. You. All. Want.” Lexa mocks Octavia.

“I’M ALWAYS A-“ Raven starts.

“RAVEN NO.” Clarke yells, everyone laughs at her…or Raven, she’s not sure.

Clarke notices Lexa rummaging through her satchel.

-She looks awesome, how does that suit her so well? She just suits everything, that’s how.-

Lexa eventually pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil, “Here, write what you want on here and give 2 dollars and then pass it along.” He hands the paper to Bellamy, who writes and gives the paper to Monty.

“Wow. She’s so efficient. Why didn’t we think of this?” Raven ponders out loud.

“Yeah. It’s weird we have to get rid of her.” Octavia says.

“Wait, what. No.”

Octavia carries on anyway, “We have to fight her.”

“Yeah.” Raven agrees.

“Bad idea, Lexa taught herself to fight. It’s really weird.”

“Wait really?” Octavia is suddenly interested.

“Yeah.” Lexa confirms.

“Woah.”  
\---

“Literally all of this is junk food.” Lexa says as she looks down to the list of items. They’re currently traipsing around the shop down from their houses (which Lexa wasn’t even aware exsisted) trying to find all the things on the list. Which doesn’t prove to be very difficult seeing as it consists of: DORITOS, pringles, bread, milkshake (NOT STAWBERRY THAT’S AN ABOMINATION), something that tastes nice, a lot of candy. Or something along those lines.

“Yeah, this happens every year. Everyone wakes up in the morning with stomach aches because they eat too much.” Clarke says, or more like rambles.

-Why does she sound so nervous?-

“That’s…discusting.” Lexa says, looking for the right word. “What are we getting for tonight?”

“We usually just order pizzas before and eat them there.”

Lexa nods in return, “Who wants bread?” Lexa says, frowning at the order.

“Monty.” Clarke simply says. Lexa was expecting an explanation but is left without one.

“Okay. We’ve got everything. Let’s go check out.” Lexa says as she goes through the basket of, what she can only call, crap.  
\---

After everyone got bored or had pined off of Clarke as much as possible (and Monty had eaten his bread) they all dispersed and went home. Now it's 8 at night and Lexa and Lincoln are waiting for Clarke outside their houses. She’s probably way more nervous than she should be but alas Clarke is going to be around her and she is going to be nervous because of exactly that. When Clarke comes out of her house clad in her black pyjama shorts and a low cut navy vest. She hasn’t got anything over her shoulders except a cover and a duffle bag which Lexa can only assume has more covers and pillows in it.

Before she knows it Clarke is in front of her and Lincoln is tapping her on the shoulder, “Yeah?”

“Are you going to answer her?” Lincoln mumbles and at her frowns, Lexa looks at him incredulously, “Clarke. Clarke asked you how you were.”

-How the hell did I not notice that? Oh, I was admiring her duffle bag. What.-

“How are you guys?” Clarke says from behind her.

“Tired.” Lexa shoots out.

“Yeah, me too. It’s going to be like that for the rest of the night. Until we eat all the sugar we have.” Clarke elaborates.

“You bought sugar?” Lincoln questions.

“Not pure sugar but we bought so many sweets that it would probably be healthier to literally just eat pure sugar.” Lexa tells him.

“That’s probably true. The amount we got is horrific.”

Lexa laughs at that and so does Clarke. They start to walk and carry on talking about whatever comes to mind. By them really it just means that Lincoln is trailing behind them probably texting Octavia and Clarke and Lexa are immersed in an incredibly animated conversation. Lexa is finally talking with Clarke like a normal human being, considering she has been the definition of awkward when she’s around Clarke. There’s an easiness to the conversation they’re having. While talking to Clarke about goats and bagels-yeah, they made a connection between goats and bagels-Lexa comes to the realisation that she might just fit in. There hasn’t been this sense of fitting in for her since she moved so her talking to Clarke like this makes her feel like she fits in, this makes her feel wanted. Lexa didn’t even realise that she had been missing those things.  
\---

Clarke, Lexa and Lincoln are walking up to the room that Monty has gotten them (they still don’t know how he does it). Clarke is surprisingly nervous. She knows what it has in store…kind of but she’s never been like this. It’s not like anything is different, there’s just two other people. One of which is becoming her fast friend and another is her brother.

Clarke pushes through the door to room 214 and is greeted by cheers and whoops and a, “Look who’s here!” From Jasper.

“Hey! Look who has blankets!” Clarke yells back. Jasper just gives her a look.


	7. Night Instead - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part of Night Instead. This is a long chapter. I hope you enjoy it.  
> Bellamy is all too serious. Clarke is coming to her senses. Octavia and Lincoln are loving their relationship, and each other.

They have one hour to answer 30 questions. Only Jasper and Monty don’t have a quiz due to the fact that Lexa already has a quiz with Clarke. There are two more quizzes to do after the ones they have now – Riddles, Shows and Songs – which are Art and Puzzles. Lincoln isn't quite sure how they’re going to spend the rest of the night. There are 2 hours to go for quizzes and that only takes them to 11 PM. All Lincoln is thinking is that he might be really embarrassed by the end of tonight.

Lincoln and Bellamy where doing their riddles. It sounds childish when Lincoln thought about it, a bunch of people who were in one of their last years at high school-about to go to college-are sitting in a class room at 9 at night because of a competition that he was pretty sure didn't even have a prize.

The tension between Lincoln and Bellamy was palpable. And slightly scary. Lincoln knows that Bellamy doesn't know what’s going on between him and Octavia.

-He doesn't know what’s going on, right?-

“Hey. Lincoln?” He hears Bellamy say. “The answer?”

“To what?” Lincoln says, completely spacing out.

“The riddle.” Bellamy says to him.

Lincoln remembers where he is, “Oh, right. What is it?”

“It’s ‘I'm tall when I'm young and I'm short when I'm old. What am I?’” Bellamy recites.

“Oh, easy. It’s a candle.” Lincoln has these memorised. When he and Lexa were small they would scour shops for hours trying to find interesting things. Once they came across a small shop just on the edge of town. It was full of stuff. Nothing in particular, things ranging from books to art supplies to parts of a skateboard. Lincoln and Lexa would spend a lot of their time in there. That’s how Lincoln discovered riddles and all the things he loves and that’s how Lexa discovered Photography and the stars (though very few people know about those things).

“Oh, of course. Okay. Next one.”  
\---

“Raven. That is not the best song ever.” Octavia tells her best friend-probably too sternly.

“What is then?” Raven retorts.

Octavia breaks out in Fall Out Boy but no in particular song just snippets of a lot of different ones. Not loud enough for anyone else to hear just enough to make Raven laugh and when she doesn't stop Raven keeps laughing about it, once Clarke yells, “Focus!” Octavia stops singing but Raven keeps laughing.

Once they've answered more questions they start to get seriously into it. Until Octavia starts too hum something. Raven ignores it for a while until she realises that it’s another song, this time Sia.

Raven just says, “Stop.” Octavia carries on, “Stop it.” Octavia hums louder, Raven stifles a laugh. “Stop.” Octavia stops. “Thank you.”

A few minutes go by - if that – and Octavia starts to mumble the lyrics to another Fall Out Boy song.

“Oh my god. O, stop.”  
\---

“Let’s do this.”

“Okay. The three Kardashians are?” Clarke recites from the sheet of questions.

“Kim, Khloe and something else.” Lexa says as if she had the names on hold.

“Kendall.”

“Yes. Okay next question.” Lexa commands.

Clarke reads out the next question, after she does so she looks to Lexa who she realises is already looking at her. There’s a look in her eye, a look that she can’t quite place. It doesn’t make her uncomfortable-in fact it makes her feel like she’s light and nothing but at the same time it makes her feel like she’s got everything inside of her. Clarke doesn’t know how long they stay like that. She only knows that when she heard Ravens laugh she was snapped back to reality and just yelled “Focus!” Though Clarke is unsure whether or not she was saying it to Raven and Octavia or herself.  
\---

The whole hour passes and Lexa is doing another quiz with Monty and Jasper. It’s surprising how well they all get along. They aren’t the group of people that you would see getting along but it warms Lexa’s heart knowing that she feels like she belongs; not only with Clarke but also the rest of the group.

But. But there is only one thing on her mind now. Sure she’s focusing on the quiz but half of her mind is taken up with what happened with her and Clarke.

-Did anything happen between her and Clarke?-

If something did happen then what the hell was it? Lexa can only think that maybe Clarke feels the same about her, the same meaning that Clarke might just think about holding Lexa’s hand or going on dates or kissing. A lot of kissing. But straight after she does that and she gets more than happy about the fact that her feelings might be reciprocated she can’t help but think that the odds of Clarke feeling the same about her are small.

-Is the whole ‘crushes do work out and you will be happy forever’ thing just a myth?-  
\---

After all the quizzes where done and a teacher - who looked incredibly tired – had come and collected their quizzes they began to blow up the air mattresses and setting out the blankets and pillows.

Only 10 minutes went past when a voice came over the intercom. “Now that all of your quizzes have been collected there is a surprise. All teams will have one flag. That means there are 5 flags.” A look of confusion is shared between all the people in the room. 

“You have to collect all of the flags. Once you have the flags you have to bring them to the reception. That is where I am. All of the flags have to be given in at once by the same team.” After the confusion had passed between everyone there is just a look of determination in their eyes.

“The Flags will be in several different places in the school. Canteen. Class room 304. Staff room. Courtyard. Central staircase. Those are the five places.”

Everyone jumps, trying to get prepared. “This will add 50 points onto your final score. Go.”

“We go in pairs.” Bellamy announces, “Girl with boy. Clarke you’re with me. The rest of you figure it out. We’ll take the Courtyard. Meet back at the reception and wait there.”

Clarke goes to Bellamy’s side and it makes Lexa’s stomach churn. Monty comes up to her side and they nod to each other. A mutual understanding that they are partnering. Monty yells, “We’ll take the canteen.”

Bellamy and Clarke have already headed out and Monty and Lexa head out and run down one of the side stair cases – it’s then when Lexa realises that she doesn’t have any shoes on. She looks over to Monty, who is running beside her, and looks down to his feet which are also shoe-less.

They hear more footsteps going down another hall that leads to the canteen. “Stop.” Lexa says, conjuring up an idea. Monty stops…well, slides to a stop. “We have one thing over them.” Monty looks at her with confusion written across his face. “No shoes.” Monty still looks at her the same. “We don’t make sound when we move.” Monty slowly nods.

“We can wait until they find it and then take it from them and then you can wait here and relay it back.” Monty says. Lexa nods.

They hear a slightly muffled, “Got it! Let’s go.” Monty peeps his head around the corner they are hiding in. Before Lexa knows it he’s running down the hall and there is yelling and she hears the ever so slight patter of Monty’s feet. She leaps out from the corner they were hiding in and holds her hand out behind her for the flag. As soon as she feels the flag in her hand she grips the flag pole and takes off running.

Lexa can still hear the patting of feet behind her as she jumps the stairs two at a time. The door slams behind her and she knows that another team is hot on her heals. She knows the way around this school well enough to find the fastest way to the schools main reception. Lexa’s legs are still pumping and her feet are making very little sound as she runs down the hall and she’s sure that there’s no one behind her. Lexa slows down a little as she approaches the glass windows seeing that Clarke and Bellamy have retrieved the flag from the courtyard, both of their chests heaving and Clarke has a small shine on her forehead and a small blush on her cheeks.

-Their trip must have been much more difficult.-

She hears someone coming down the hall and turns to see if it’s another team but it turns out to just be Monty looking like he’s seen a ghost. Lexa groups together with Bellamy and Clarke getting a pat on the back from Bellamy and a small smile from Clarke. Monty approaches them, looking over his should one too many times and panting in between saying, “There’s someone…behind me…Following me…They’re close.”

“Who? What team?” Bellamy says, looking like he’s a rabid dog. Monty just shrugs still looking scared and dishevelled.  
\---

Bellamy and Clarke run out of room 214 after Bellamy gave his instructions to everyone. They make their way to the courtyard in record time, not bumping into anyone of opposite teams and only seeing Octavia and Lincoln when they were headed down to room 304.

As they approached the Courtyard and ran down the closest staircase to the Courtyard Clarke began to plan for her escape. Clarke’s been here for years, she knows the ins and outs of this place. They run down the hallway lined with lockers and through two heavy doors that lead to the Courtyard. They found the flag with no problem; it was sat in the middle of the middle table after all. Bellamy ran to it and grabbed the flag. Though as Bellamy was running back to where Clarke was stood she yelled something that he didn’t hear and, before he knew it, the flag was out of his hand and in a juniors.

Clarke and Bellamy shared a look of confusion at how a junior not only took part in Night Instead but also dared to take the flag from a sophomore. Clarke takes off running towards an incredibly short dark haired boy (with a flag that looks just as big as him). With her legs pumping beneath her she pushes herself towards the boy and almost tackles him. Key word: almost.

Before she knows it she’s on the ground with the small boy on top of her who is currently fumbling for the flag in her hand. He grabs the flag from her hand and swiftly runs the opposite direction of Clarke though he runs into Bellamy who grabs the flag out of his hand and into one of the stairwells they planned for an escape. Clarke runs into the stairwell after Bellamy and the kid runs somewhere unknown.

When Clarke reaches Bellamy at main reception she notices that they are the first ones there. She leans down and puts her hands on her knees in attempt to stay cautious of her surroundings and also get some of her breath back.

Before they know it there are footsteps coming down the hall. Clarke straightens up in order to seem more defensive. It’s only when she sees brown curls and long legs that she relaxes-still breathing heavily.

Clarke tries to ignore the way her stomach swells and jumps at the way Lexa’s eyes connect with Clarkes.

She tries to ignore it.

She fails.  
\---

Lincoln and Octavia are out of classroom 214 as soon as Lincoln has his shoes on. Before they leave Lincoln yells, “We’ll take the classroom. She leaves behind Raven and Jasper, knowing that she’s going to get a mouth full from Raven for leaving her with Jasper.

They run down the hall that leads to class 307. Octavia has been in this school long enough to know where it is…or that’s what she thought. When they get to the end of the hall way that Octavia thought it was at the door they are greeted with is room 207.

-Rookie mistake.-

“Damnit. Wrong way.” Octavia mumbles to herself. “I thought it was to the right. Turns out it’s the left. We’re going to have to be quick if we want that flag.” She announced as she took off running.

“Wait!” Lincoln yelled from behind her. Octavia stopped in her tracks, whipping around to ne greeted by Lincoln’s chest. Octavia took in a sudden breath, and looked up to her boyfriend.

-Wow, boyfriend.-

Lincoln leaned down to her and connected their lips. They stayed like that for a while, moving against each other. Suddenly Octavia realised why they were actually there. For the flag.

She disconnected their lips and looked into Lincoln’s eyes. “We need the flag.” Octavia says, breathlessly.

“Ugh.” Is all Lincoln replies before running off with Octavia.

It doesn’t take long for them to get there because of the odd driven-ness that Octavia has. Lincoln notices a small figure running into the class room just before them. Octavia mumbles something to herself and speeds up. They come closer to the room and stop just outside the door that leads to classroom 307, hearing slight muffles movement the pair decide to wait him out.

After a series of facial conversations about how they will take down whoever is in that room they decide to infiltrate the room. Octavia runs into the room first and after she shouts, “Now! Lincoln!”

Lincoln runs into the room and he sees a kid. A kid who looks like he’s the height of an eight year old. Octavia is also laughing a little. Lincoln looks at her, all the seriousness behind that girl (and all about a flag) dissolved because of a short brown haired boy who has a flag who looks just as big as him.

The boy takes this moment of…absurd weakness to bolt out the door and run down the hallway (probably quicker than a kid that small should). In an instant Octavia’s game face is back on and she is off. Before Lincoln can even get out the door he hears a small thud from down the hall and a muffled conversation.   
When he finally reaches the two they are a pile of limbs tangled together writhing and trying to grab a flag. Lincoln gives them a look and hears a strangled, “Take the flag…run!” From Octavia. He reaches down to the flag, which is at least a foot away from, them and runs. He hears a small, “What the hell is wrong with this school.” He then hears a little pitter-patter from behind him and braces himself for the short boy who might knaw on his ankles.

Instead he is greeted with a dishevelled Octavia who has a little red on her cheeks and her hair bigger on one side than the other. Lincoln smiles to the brunette slowly running towards him.

-How did I get this lucky?- 

He notices that there is a slight limp to her walk and turns into a small crouch. He puts out his arms in a way that looks like he’s giving a piggyback to someone invisible. He waits until he feels Octavia hop onto his back and braces his arms around his girlfriend’s legs.  
\---

The rest of the group have been anxiously waiting for Octavia and Lincoln to come back for at least 5 minutes before they round the corner in giggles. Lexa can only smile at the look on their faces, the look of pure joy.

It doesn’t seem like they see the group until Bellamy clears his throat and everyone turns look at him. Clearly he only wanted Lincoln’s attention due to the fatherly if-you-don’t-stop-that-now-I-will-kill-you look on his face.

As soon as Lincoln does look at Bellamy his face falls and Octavia unwraps her legs from around his waist and drops to the floor, landing perfectly on her feet.

“All right, it looks like we are going to win!” Jasper yells out as he pushes through the glass door to greet the woman at reception. A chorus of whoops and cheers are laid out behind him from the team and they approach the main desk with smiles on their faces.

One by one they lay down the flags in front of her. Jasper and Raven lay down a green one, Monty and Lexa lay down an orange one. Clarke and Bellamy lay a blue one, Octavia and Lincoln lay down a red one. They all stand back in achievement as they look at the rainbow flag sight in front of them.   
“Congratu-“ The woman at the desk is about to write on the sheet that they won when, out of nowhere, a team (that Lexa didn’t even know was competing) push through from behind them. None of them have time to react and they are all pushed back quicker than anyone of them could reach out a hand. When they all stop their stumbling and regain their balance, the woman at the desk looks awe-struck and the flags are gone. The glass doors are swinging shut and footsteps can be heard.

“What the fuck?” Raven exclaims in disbelief.

“I have no idea.” Octavia answers her.  
\---

They all leave in two groups. Bellamy, Lexa, Clarke and Monty are group one and Jasper, Raven, Octavia and Lincoln are group two. The team decides it is best to block both of the hallways that lead to the main reception, effectively stopping the rival team from winning the game of capture the flag.

After about ten minutes of waiting for the other team to make their move Clarke decides to voice her idea. “Hey, Bell, why don’t we sent some scouts?”

“Why?” Is all he replies.

“Because that might give us an idea of what’s going on outside these lines.” Lexa tells him, seeing Clarke’s reasoning before she’s even said it. Clarke gives her a knowing smile that makes Lexa’s stomach erupt in butterflies.

“Yeah, okay. Clarke and Monty, you two do that. I’ll stay here with Lexa and hold down the fort.” Bellamy announces.

Clarke and Monty head off down the hall. Monty’s eyes dart all over the place and don’t seem to stop. Clarke puts a soothing hand on his shoulder and he jumps at the touch. Clarke laugh a little at his jumpiness. “What’s up with you?” Clarke asks.

“Who were those people?” He waits, “The people who ambushed us.”

“I have no idea, they were pretty weird though.” Clarke says.

The stop by the stair case down the hall and look down the hall too Bellamy and Lexa. Well, mostly Lexa. She does look beautiful in…pyjamas. Clarke can’t help it if her friend is attractive. Clarke can’t help it if she notices it.

Bellamy gives them a stern look and Lexa locks eyes with Clarke and gives her a little smile. Lexa looks to her shoes and, before Clarke can look away, back at her. The same little smile appears on her lips and it doesn’t occur to Clarke that Monty is saying her name until Lexa motions her head to Monty and Clarke finally hears him.

“Clarke?”

“What?”

“You just completely zoned out there.” Monty tells her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just…I’m fine.” Clarke stutters out.

“Okay because I was trying to get your attention for a while and you were just having a face-conversation with Lexa.” Clarke just looks at him, waiting for him to elaborate. “Oh my god.”

Clarke looks around frantically, searching for something that would get that reaction from him. “What?” She asks when she can’t find the culprit.

Monty gives her a sly grin. Clarke returns it with a look of utter confusion. After a while of this Monty comes out with, “You totally have a thing for Lexa.” His eyes light up.

“What?” Clarke’s mind races, trying to find a reason for Monty to come to this conclusion. Sure she takes a lot of notice of Lexa but that’s because she’s beautiful, that’s not because she has a crush. Sure she always smiles more when Lexa’s around but that because she enjoys Lexa’s company. Sure she is always disappointed when Lexa and her are having a good conversation and when someone else butts in but that’s because she prefers it when it’s just her and Lexa. She only prefers a lot of things when it’s just her and Lexa because-

Her thoughts are quickly cut short when she feels a person brush by her and Bellamy yelling for help. When she runs to catch them she notices it’s Anya’s team (the whole of Anya’s team), they do usually compete but no one really notices them because of how quiet and in the background they are.

-That’s why we didn’t see them in the main reception.- Clarke thinks as she takes off running.  
\---

Lexa only notices Anya’s team barrelling towards them when Bellamy yells something incomprehensible. They are all moving so fast that Lexa can’t keep track of how many of them there are, she can see Anya and Indra but the others she doesn’t recognise…or can’t recognise because of their speed.

Lexa sees Bellamy dive down to one of their sides to try and grab a flag but he misses by millimetres. Lexa moves to one of the team members but fumbles trying to figure out where her hands are.

-That was a sore attempt at capture the flag.-

Monty comes to her side seconds after Anya’s team has passed them, so does a huffing and puffing Clarke after a while.

“What the hell, guys? Did you not even try?” Bellamy chastises.

“Sorry. I was…lost in my thoughts.” Clarke says seeming far away.

Bellamy gives her an indescribable look of disbelief and turns to move away. Over the intercom they hear, “A team has won capture the flag thus winning 50 additional points.”

They all sigh collectively.  
\---

After a while has passed the team has come back from their loss. The whole group is gathered around in a circle, eating the sweets that Clarke and Lexa brought for them.

“So, I have a question.” Octavia pipes up. All heads turn to her and the loud chewing subsides. “Where was Murphy’s team? I didn’t run into them.”

“Did they even realise that there was a capture the flag game?” Lexa chimes in.

“Um, actually, I heard them talking in the hall yesterday at school and I’m pretty sure they’re brought some weed in.”

“They’re high right now?” Clarke says, holding in some laughter.

“I think so.” The whole group bursts out laughing at their misfortune.

After the laughter subsides Lexa voices a question that’s been on her mind for a while, “Okay, I have a question.” All heads turn to her. “In the group chat, you all have your normal names, not a nick name. Why is that?”

The group goes quiet and they all exchange looks until Monty speaks up, “The name incident of 2013 is not something we are proud of.” He waits to add emphasis. “When we all first discovered how to change the names on our group chat it was funny. We all had our own names, for example, Jasper was nicknamed ‘Goggles’.”

-I’ll ask about that later.-

“But it got out of hand fast.” Jasper chimes in, “People began coming up with more unique names. Nothing offensive or degrading I assure you but the names where more difficult to understand.”

Bellamy speaks up now, “It got to the point where the names didn’t even match the person. Octavia ended up being ‘Floorboard girl’. None of it made sense. So, we all agreed to change back our names and never change them again.”

“Wow.” Lincoln says.

Lexa and Lincoln share a look and then burst out laughing. No matter how much the rest of them insist that it’s a serious matter they don’t stop.

“Oh come on! Do you even hear yourselves?” Lexa exclaims between laughter. It’s when she sees their serious expressions that she tries to tone it down but she replays the conversation in her mind when she bursts out laughing again.

The all end up in tears of laughter eventually.  
\---

“Goodnight everyone.” Clarke says as she gets into bed next to Lexa. She turns to face Lexa who is already facing towards the middle of the bed, towards Clarke.

“Goodnight.” Lexa says, loud enough for everyone to hear but looking into Clarke’s eyes. Somehow it feels like Lexa’s only talking to her and somehow that’s comforting. Clarke is snapped out of her thoughts when she hears a round of ‘Goodnight’’s from the rest of the group but only a groan from Octavia.

“We told you, you shouldn't have eaten all of that candy, O.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, it was the same short, brown-haired kid.


	8. Reveals and fights.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A secret is revealed and a fight breaks out (kind of) and Clarke calls Lexa a weird name.

They are all gathered in the main reception. By ‘they’ Clarke means that all of the teams. There is an uneasy feeling surrounding them, a feeling of tension and a feeling of being unsure. Clarke knows that her team answered all the questions. The majority of the questions at least. Lexa and Clarke answered a lot of their questions and Lincoln and Clarke answered at least half of them.

-Art history is dumb.-

“Okay! Listen up!” Everyone turns to Principle Jaha who is standing behind the counter. “The results of Night Instead very close to each other. Though there was one distinct winner.” All teams cheer. “I am proud to announce that the wining team is,” Jaha pauses for effect. “The Grounders, AKA Anya’s team.”

Some people boo at this turn of events; other people just groan and a select few stay silent. Then, there’s Anya’s team, who cheer with great glee and go to collect their little trophy. It’s different this year, it’s a little golden flag (which is probably made out of plastic) standing on top of a small golden hill.

-What the hell is the hill supposed to represent?-

Anya goes to collect it and Clarke sees her mouth a small ‘thank you’, Jaha smiles and nods and they prompts everyone to give a small round of applause-which they all do albeit reluctantly. After Anya walks back to the rest of her little group everyone begins to file out, Clarke feels a small hand on her back and turns to find Raven who says, “I’m going to stay and congratulate them. Don’t wait up.”

Clarke gives her a little nod and goes to catch up with Octavia who is trailing behind the rest of the group.  
\---

“Hey, Anya, can I talk to you for a second?” Raven can’t help but notice the little look Anya receives from the rest of their group and decides to elaborate, “I wanted to talk to you about the, um, presentation.”

Anya rings them to the side and looks at Raven expectantly. It’s this point where she realises that she didn’t plan anything to say.

-I’ll wing it.-

When it’s just Anya and Raven, Raven can’t help it when her heart thumps and her mind goes blank. It’s only when she registers that Anya is frantically searching her eyes and moving her lips that she realises that, yeah, she has to say something.

“I was wondering if you wanted to discuss the presentation and plan it more.” Raven says.

“Well, I think we finished that last Thursday, you know when we high-fived because it only took 2 hours?” Anya tells her like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

-Well, it is the most obvious thing. Ever.-

“Oh, yeah, I know that but I was wondering if you want to work on the…delivery of the presentation.” Raven accumulate her thoughts.

A look of recognition flashes across Anya’s face and Raven’s heart drops.

-Why do I even try? I should have known she wouldn’t want to do anything. Why do I do- Her thoughts get cut off before she can finish them.

“Yeah. Okay. I’d like that.” Anya flips over all of the ideas Raven has about her. Simultaneously making a war of butterflies break out in her stomach.

“Okay.” Her new found confidence shines out in that one word. “I’ll text you the deets.” And there it goes.  
\---

There was a heated conversation going on at break about the history of everyone’s love life. No one really knows who started this exchange except that everyone knew everyone was feeling awkward and yet no one stopped talking.

“Someone here has to have a boyfriend or girlfriend. We can all be that unlovable.” Bellamy sighs.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you, Bell, but there is no one. Well, not for me at least.” Monty tells him, rather broodily.

There are a chorus of ‘Not me eithers’ in varied forms and everyone looks upset. Until Jasper chimes in, “Wait, Octavia and Lincoln. Aren’t you two together?”

Octavia’s eye’s shoot to Lincoln; seeing that he is just opening and closing it like a fish giving Octavia frantic eyes. Lexa, Raven and Clarke’s eyes are darting all over the place, with no sign of stopping. 

Jasper must register that he has done something wrong at the breathy, “What? No.” From Octavia.

Except he doesn’t because he goes on to say, “Yeah, Monty and I saw you two locking lips in a corridor a while ago.”

The occupants at the table feel the tension rising at the table and Jasper, still oblivious, just has a confused look on his face. “Monty, back me up here.”

“I…I…don’t think I should.”

“Why not? You were with me when we saw them kissi-“ Jasper is cut off by the sound of fists striking the wooden bench. All eyes turn to the sound, only to find a fuming Bellamy staring daggers at Lincoln.

“Is this true?”

“Bellamy. Calm down.” Octavia says calmly, trying to stop what will inevitably happen.

“Is it true?” Bellamy repeats, this time anger laces the question.

“Yes but-“ Bellamy gets up before Octavia can finish and before anyone knows it Bellamy is half way around the bench approaching a mortified-looking Lincoln who is already standing.

“What the _hell_?” Bellamy spits at Lincoln, “What did I say?”

“With all respect I don’t believe Octavia’s relationships are yours to dictate.” Lincoln replies as calmly as possible.

“You stepped over the wrong line.”

The group sees Bellamy’s arm pull back-preparing for a punch. Lincoln, being the gentle person he is, doesn’t show that he is going to dodge or block the punch and instead tries to reason with Bellamy at the worst possible time, “Look, Bella-“

Lexa gets up, quickly putting herself into a terrible position and, before anyone knows what’s happening (including Lexa), and she’s on the floor. This feeling going through her right cheekbone that she can’t quite describe. Like there is no pain in her cheek at all but at the same time there is so much pain everywhere and there isn’t a type of pain that isn’t in her cheek.

-Does that make sense? Probably not. I’m concussed.-

When her eyes open-

-My eyes were closed?-

-there is someone over the top of her, looking down. A dark figure, she scowls for a second trying to figure out who it is. The dark hair doesn’t belong to her brother, Lincoln has no hair.

-How lame. No-hair-Lincoln. I’ll use that later.-

When she finishes her thought her vision come to and she realises that the dark haired boy-who must have been Bellamy-has been pushed away and has been replaced with a much nicer sight. A blonde, glowing halo and blue orbs that are darting around her face.

-Clarke.-

Lexa internally smiles at the girl’s name.

“Can you hear me?” Lexa hears among the other chattering and constant ‘I’m sorry’s’ that must be coming from Bellamy.

“Hey. Hey, Lexie. Are you there?” Clarke says in a soft voice.

-Lexie? She’s never been called that.-

“I’m here.” Lexa tells them all. Blinking back little white dots that invade her vision.

“C’mon. Can you stand? Let’s get you to the nurse.” Clarke’s soft voice floats into her ears.

She hears another voice, louder than the rest, “Oh, god. Lexa, I’m so sorry.” She recognises it as Bellamy and turns to it as she feels herself being lifted up but Clarke and…some other people.

“It’s fine. I forgive.”

-That’s not right.-

“You.” She adds to the end. “I forgive you.” She hears a sigh of relief.

 

Lexa feels someone’s hand in her own and another on her elbow. She turns to look at who is connected to those hands and sees the sweet smile that she can’t get enough of. Clarke’s hand feels good in hers natural, like no other hand should be there. Like the feeling she has is only meant for her; not to be shared with anyone else.

-I’m delusional- Lexa reminds herself.  
\---

When Lexa comes to she’s in what must be the nurse’s office. The off-white ceiling beating slowly as if it has a heart and the cardboard mattress underneath her give it away. When she props herself up on an elbow she realises the presence of other people in her room.

Lincoln and Bellamy. Lexa had wanted and expected Clarke to be here. She’s not surprised to see Bellamy and Lincoln on opposite sides of the room. What she is surprised to see is them deep in a muffled conversation, they only emerge from said conversation when she clears her throat.

Both faces snap to her and a look of sympathy settles on Lincolns face and a look of guilt flashes across Bellamy’s; only to be quickly replaced by a look of relief.

“Where’s Clarke?” Comes out of Lexa’s mouth before she can fully comprehend what’s happening. She shakes her head at herself.

-I’m delusional. Why would Clarke be here?-

“She’s in class. She said she’ll pick up any homework you need.” Lincoln tells her with an edge to his voice, one she can only guess is from the punch she got from Bellamy.

“Okay.” Lexa swings her legs off of the bed. She feels a pinprick of pain going through just beneath her eye. Instinctively her hand flies up to her cheek, only to feel sticking and give herself more pain than was there in the first place. When she pulls back her hand there is a little bit of blood on her finger tips and slowly running down her finger.

“Woah.” Is all she can think to say.

“I’m really sorry, Lexa. I didn’t mean to hit you. I wasn’t thinking, you can hit me back if you like. If it makes you feel any better my hand really hurts. Um…” Bellamy is frantically searching for another reason to justify what he did.

“It’s okay, Bell. I forgive you and besides, chicks dig scars.” Lexa says, trying to muster up all the confidence she can.

Bellamy gives her an incredulous look and then bursts out laughing, Lexa feigns hurt and puts a hand against her chest only to hear Lincoln’s familiar laugh and soon she is laughing too and soon there is no tension. Lexa can only wonder what they were just talking about.  
\---

When Raven gets home it takes her a few minutes (Thirty of them to be precise) to finally conjure up the courage to text Anya. It’s a little stupid really because she to just has to meet for coffee to discuss some presentation. Really though, that is the last thing she wants to do. What she really wants to do is tell Anya how she feels and then she wants to have Anya reciprocate those feelings.  
_**Raven:** Hey, when do you want to meet? _  
_**Anya:** How’s…now? _  
_**Raven:** Now’s good. _  
_**Anya:** Where? _  
_**Raven:** There’s an awesome coffee shop on a little side street called Dropship _  
_**Anya:** I heard of them a while ago, Lexa said it was really good. _  
_**Raven:** Yeah, Clarke said the same thing _  
_**Anya:** When are we going to meet? _  
_**Raven:** 5? _  
_**Anya:** See you then_

The walk there Raven had to continuously remind herself that, ‘no, this isn’t a date. This is a…planning of a presentation.

-I’m hopeless.-  
\---

"Mom?" Clarke answers her phone while Lexa and Clarke are in the middle of doing some more maths in her room. Lexa looks up to the girl sitting opposite her. "What?" A look of grief flashes across Clarke's face and Lexa immediately perks up wanting to know the source of the grief. "No. I'm coming." Clarke gets up and grabs a bag, puts in a jumper, a bottle of water and a drawing pad and a pencil. "I'll find a ride." She hangs up and then Lexa gets up slipping on her shoes.

"Gustus has a car. We can take you." Clarke looks at her with a look on her face that says, 'How did you know?'

"Thank you." Clarke sighs.

"I'll go grab him." Lexa opens the door to leave but stops. "Where are we going?"

"The hospital."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it though.


	9. The Hospital.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're at the hospital.

Clarke’s eyes are frantic. Her heart is beating a mile a minute. Her brain is going in over-drive. Her world is going to slow. Her body is going too fast. Everything is wrong.

-There’s no way.-

-This isn’t right.-

-This isn’t a thing that happens to me. Not me, right?-

When Gustus pulls up in front of the hospital Clarke flies out of the car before it’s even stopped. She mumbles a ‘Thank you.’ And carries on into the hospital. She walks up to the main counter and says, “My father came in here. Griffin? Jake.”

Clarke can see the worry in the receptionists eyes spark when Clarke says this. “Yes, of course. Room 1126. Just down the hall and to the left then a right and up the stairs. There should be a waiting room for you there.”

Lexa is beside her now and when Clarke takes off speed-walking down the hall Lexa stays beside her. “Clarke? Clarke, slow down.”

She doesn’t.

Clarke takes the left. Then right…Or was it another left? “It’s a right.” She hears Lexa say. She takes the right. When they get to the set of stairs Clarke can still hear Lexa trying to get through to her. “Lexa. I can’t. I have to see my father.” Clarke spits out, too aggressively she realises when she sees the hurt look on Lexa’s face.

“I’m sorry.” Lexa mumbles.

“No. No, I’m sorry. I…I just-“ Clarke stammers and doesn’t finish. Instead she just pushed through some double doors and into a waiting room where she goes up to a counter and says, “Jake Griffin. Is he here?”

The counter woman looks equally as worried as the receptionist before and says, “He’s in surgery right now. He won’t be out for at least a half hour.” Clarke nods. A knot in her throat starting to form. “Can I ask your relationship to the patient?”

-The patient. Oh god. It’s real.-

Instead of answering Clarke falls onto Lexa who came up beside her a while ago. The knot in her throat grinds up against her throat when she tries to swallow down tears. She hear Lexa, “She’s his daughter.”

The nurse taps in something on her computer. Lexa grabs the side of her face gently and pulls her head up to face her. “C’mon. Let’s go to the chairs. Let’s go sit down.”

The way that Lexa says it. This cover over her voice like she doesn’t want anyone to hear her. It makes Clarke feel special, like it’s a voice only made for her. Maybe Lexa is made only for Clarke.

All of a sudden Lexa’s hand is in hers and she’s being pulled over to some chairs. Some crappy chairs there are brown and tattered and look like they used to be soft and cushy but are now worn down. Worn down with worry and with sadness. A sadness that Clarke feels like she will add onto in the coming hours.  
\---

They’ve been there for half an hour exactly, Lexa knows because she’s been watching the clock. She also knows that Clarke must have been too because as soon as the second hand reaches the twelve and the minute hand reaches the 10 Clarke lets go of Lexa hand and jumps up to the counter.

(They have had a few conversations, one sticking in Lexa’s mind. “You got punched.” “I did. You called me ‘Lexie’.” Then Clarke looked at the wall and smiled. Lexa didn’t bother analysing that.)

Clarke exchanges some words with the woman behind the counter and comes bak with a glum look on her face. “What did she say?”

“He got out of surgery a few minutes ago. He’s in good condition but she said that anything could happen.”  
\---

“Mom!” Clarke jumps up again, this time running into the arms of her mother. “Where have you been?”

“In surgery.” Abby says, a look of grief flooding her face.

“You did surgery on dad?” Clarke asks her.

“I did.”

“What happened to him? Why did someone hit him?” Clarke asks, like the questions have been holed up in her mind for hours trying to say them.

“He was on the highway, coming home from work, witnesses say that he swerved because of a fox running on the road.” This makes the two of them smile. “A fox.”

Clarke lets out a breathy laugh.

-Only my father would risk his safety for a fox.-

“They said the fox was alright.” Abby adds on after a while.

“Is he?”

“So far he’s okay but he has to stay for a few days and see how he is just in case.”

-Just in case. So he’s not really okay.-  
\---

A few minutes have passed since Clarke’s mom came out of surgery and joined them in wait for Clarke’s father to wake up. The feeling between them all wasn’t what Lexa would call awkward because it wasn’t; it was more of a tense atmosphere with a hint of despair and a dash of restlessness. Though this did conjure up an awkward sort of feeling.

Clarke’s mom got up then walking over to Gustus, who had joined them a while an hour or so ago with bottled water and a few packets of crisps and sandwiches, looking relatively nervous she says, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Clarke’s mother, Abby. Are you Lexa’s father?”

Gustus straightens up when he is approached. Looking more of a human and less of a big rock. “No, I’m Lexa’s uncle. Lexa’s parents are in DC for a business trip. I’ve just moved in for a while to watch over the kids.”

“Oh, okay.” Their conversation goes on from there. Mostly adult stuff: What do they do? What do you do? How is that? Isn’t it weird weather? Have you ever been to Hawaii?

Though ever one of their 4questions is as far away from anything involving Clarke’s father as possible. Lexa feels Clarke get tense, the questions making her uneasy.

“I’m just going to go to the toilet.” Clarke whispers in her ear. Lexa gives her a knowing smile.

Clarke walks off into the distance and Lexa checks her phone after a few moments of tapping her foot on the floor. When she unlocks her phone though she tries to distract herself from the amount of time that Clarke has been gone. She left at least 8 minutes ago.

-It doesn’t take that long to do anything in the toilet.-

Lexa picks up herself from the seat she’s been in for all too long. She mumbles a small, “I’m just going to the toilet.” To Gustus and Abby before following the ‘Toilet’ signs.

Lexa pushes though the door and immediately notices the little sniffles coming from inside. Wondering whether or not she should interrupt Lexa hears a small, “Is someone there?” come from Clarke. She can tell it’s Clarke. She’s become accustomed to that voice already. She knows it like she knows her name.

-No choice now.-

“Yeah. Sorry, you were gone a long time and I was wondering if you were okay or if you had fallen into the toilet bowl or something.”

This earns a small chuckle from Clarke and Lexa decides to expose herself. Clarke’s sat on the grimy old side of a sink and has a pile of scrunched up tissues nestled in the middle of her crossed legs. When she looks up to Lexa the rims of her eyes are red and her bottom lip in caught between her teeth.

Lexa walks over to her, arms out in a hug. Clarke opens hers as well, more than willingly taking up the offer. They stay like that for a while, just with each other. Lexa can feel Clarke’s raised heart beat on her chest. Because she’s raised up onto the sink Clarke has to arch her back ever so slightly. Strangely giving a comforting feeling to Lexa instead of Clarke.

In the midst of silence Clarke suddenly admits, “I’m scared.”

“It’s okay.”

“No. It’s not.”

“ _You’ll_ be okay.”

“Don’t we deserve better than this?”

“We do. _You_ do.”  
\---

-He woke up.-

That’s all Clarke can think.

-He’s awake.-

The news was a total surprise. Clarke was optimistic, of course, but when your father is in the hospital bed after swerving into a centuries-old oak tree it’s difficult not to look at the facts. So when a nurse came out and told them he was awake it woke up Clarke too.

She pushed past the nurse and strode into Jakes room and saw him in that bed. Tubes in his arms, that rhythmic beeping telling her he’s fine, the stitch stretching from his eyebrow to his ear, the bruises on his arms in a symphony of purples and blues, none of it felt real. But in a good way. A way that said ‘I got through it’.

“Clarkey.” Clarke walked straight to the chair closest to her and pulled it to him. “How are you?” Jake Griffin wheezed out.

“Not in a hospital bed.” Clarke flat lined, “How are you, Dad?”

“In a hospital bed. How is the fox?” Jakes attempt to be funny is useful sometimes but other times a bit of a burden.

“Dad.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” Jake leans in to Clarke’s face and whispers, “Do you see Hagrid, too?” He points over to the door and Clarke whips around, genuinely worried about her father’s mental state.

She doesn’t see Hagrid by the door. She see’s Gustus.

“Oh my god.”

“ _Jake. _” Clarke’s mother scalds.__

__Lexa just bursts out laughing from next to Gustus and Jake has a proud smile on his face. Until, that is, he looks over to Gustus and his face drops. Jake’s face gets a terrified look too. It’s clear that when Gustus starts to laugh that Jake is relived. Though he does still laugh nervously like he’s treading on thin ice._ _

__“See how it feels now, dad?”_ _

__“Yes, I do understand. I’m sorry, Clarkey.”_ _

__\---_ _

__After a few hours of talking night was beginning to fall outside the hospital window. After a few minutes of heated-discussion Clarke was finally convinced to leave her father’s side and go home to sleep._ _

__Countless attempts had been made to get Lexa and Gustus to go home but when coming to the realisation that if Lexa and Gustus went home Clarke wouldn’t have a ride, she stayed. Lexa wouldn’t say it was a misfortune; she got to spend more time with Clarke and her family but it was a very third wheel situation._ _

__-Or fourth wheel.-_ _

__When they had finally arrived home at 10 at night Lexa hadn’t expected Clarke to ask her to stay but when she did it was only right to say, ‘Or course I’ll stay the night, Clarke.’_ _

__And that’s how she ended up here. In her pyjamas about to face the tear stained face of Clarke Griffin._ _

__She knows that this shouldn’t be this daunting but here she is, with butterflies running rampage in her stomach and only shorts and an oversized top to stop them from being visible. Clarke is a friend, she is consoling a friend because said friend is hurting._ _

__-It’s difficult to be only a friend when you are having more than friendly feelings for this friend.-_ _

__Lexa knocks lightly on Clarkes bedroom door, walking into the room she has only been in so many times, though it seems so foreign to her._ _

__“Come in.” Lexa hears._ _

__“Hey, sorry I took a while, I grabbed a book and told Lincoln I was staying here for the night. I hope that’s okay.”_ _

__Lexa closed the door behind her and turns around to see a pyjama clad Clarke. Clarke has the same spongebob shorts on as Lexa and they both stifle a giggle at their childishness. Clarke gives her a sad smile and Lexa hopes that she can’t hear her heart break._ _

__“Come here.” Lexa says softly, opening her arms._ _

__Clarke gives in and almost throws herself at Lexa, burying her face in Lexa’s shoulder. Lex pushes one of her arms out of the hug and puts her book on the desk before swiftly returning it to Clarke’s waist._ _

__“Come on, come to bed.” Lexa says._ _

__“That makes you sound like we’re married.” Clarke chuckles absent mindedly._ _

__Lexa laughs with her. “We’d have to be girlfriends for that to work.”_ _

__“Yeah.” Is all Clarke says._ _

__They part slowly. Lexa makes sure to keep contact with a Clarke’s vest until the tips of her fingers have to part. Clarke crawls into bed and turns around to Lexa, patting the bed. Lexa gets in, though making sure to stay a fair distance away, not wanting to make Clarke uncomfortable._ _

__Until she sees Clarke’s lip quiver. Then she wraps her arms around Clarke and pulls her close until they’re basically hugging while laying down._ _

__“I miss him.”_ _

__“He’s not gone.”_ _

__“I miss him not being here.”_ _

__Lexa doesn’t know what to say, apart from, “I know.”_ _

__“Thank you,” Clarke waits a beat, “For being here.”_ _

__“It’s fine, anyone would do it.”_ _

__“But you are.” Lexa doesn’t know what that means. “Thank you.”_ _

__“I’m just being a good person.”_ _

__“I’m just glad you’re here. Thank you.”_ _

__“It’s what-“_ _

__Clarke interrupts her, “Lexa. Just say ‘That’s okay, Clarke.’”_ _

__“That’s okay, Clarke.” Lexa echoes._ _

__They part from their hug then and just turn to face each other. Clarke giggles and Lexa laughs too. They lay there then, breathing in time. Staring into each other’s eyes. Seeing only each other. Lexa swears she sees Clarke lean in. Hell, she thinks Clarke looked down to her lips._ _

__-That punch is really getting to me.-_ _

__But she ignores that. She leans in too. She’s so close. Then Clarke’s eyes flutter shut and Clarke flops onto her bed and lets out a shaky sigh which rattles Lexa to her core. Lexa sees how she squeezes her eyes a little tighter. Lexa stays still for a while and then, realising that her reason for being her is to console, she takes Clarke’s hand in her own._ _

__They lay together quietly until Clarke mumbles, “What’s your book about?”_ _

__It catches Lexa by surprise, by how much she’s learnt about how much Clarke loves to sleep she had expected her to does off by now._ _

__“It’s called Magonia. It’s about a girl who has a thing, a disease, it’s not real. The doctor don’t know what it is or how to cure it. One day she sees a ship. A ship in the sky. The ship is in Magonia, it’s easier to understand when you read it. It turns out that she belongs on that ship. It turns out that when she was on the ground she was drowning. Like our ship is their water.” Lexa stops there. “I love it.”_ _

__It’s quiet for a while and Lexa thinks she’s said too much. Until Clarke says, “Sometimes I feel like I belong in the sky.”_ _

__Then Lexa stays quiet and a few minutes pass before she says, “I feel more like I belong on the ground. With you.”_ _


	10. Reflection and awkward not-dates.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Clarke reflects on the people she loves and Raven tries to drill it into her mind that it's not a date.

Raven was beyond nervous. It was a date. Raven can go on dates. She does, she has. But none of those dates have been with Anya. Incredible, beautiful Anya.

-It’s not a date. It’s planning your presentation.-

Raven can’t help but chastise herself, she so, _so_ badly wants it to be a date but it’s not and she has to understand that. So Raven doesn’t get all dressed up like she wants to, instead she just puts on her white tank and black jeans and grey flannel and goes out into the air that is getting a little bit colder as the months pass.

Raven approaches Dropship and her stomach churns with nervousness and doubt. Doubt about how Anya will act and what she will do and nervousness about…about everything but when she sees the home-y yellow lighting and the buzz of life from inside. Out of all of those people she is only searching for one as she approaches the café and is greeted by the little bell she is only looking for one person.

The same person who calls out, “Raven!” from a corner booth next to the window. Anya’s wearing a black tank that hugs her body and some dark blue skinny jeans that are tucked into her boots. She doesn’t think that there is anything else that she wants to look at.  
\---

After a while of planning the presentation, they decide that they may as well come to a close and wait until the day of the presentation to talk about it again. When Raven turns away to head back home all she can thing about is the very few non-presentation related things that her and Anya spoke about. (It ranged from dogs-or-cats debate to why on _earth_ could books not be the best thing ever?)

In all its slight awkwardness and few short moments of what-do-I-say-now she thinks that it was successful. Raven got to spend time with Anya. She got to have a well-needed coffee. Also, she got to eat the best breakfast food in all of the land.  
\---

It took a week. A heart-wrenching week of almost tears and continuous bleeps and “‘I’ll be home soon”’s. But on the 5th of November Clarke’s father finally comes out of the hospital.

It’s a Saturday, at 11 o’clock in the morning and Clarke doesn’t think she’ll ever forget this day. Clarke asked Lexa to sleep over that night, she came up with the reason, ‘It’ll be easier to revise in the morning.’ Lexa complied understanding that it might not have been that reason but for the reason that she missed her father.

Lexa was wrong. Clarke wanted Lexa to stay around her house because she was awake. Clarke knows that Lexa thought she was asleep but she wasn’t so she heard, she heard that when Lexa was finished talking about her book she said that Clarke kept her on the ground, she heard that Lexa thought she was supposed to be on the ground. On the ground with Clarke. The problem was Clarke wasn’t _supposed_ to hear and Lexa wasn’t _supposed_ to have feeling for Clarke and Clarke wasn’t _supposed_ to know about these feelings.

But sometimes things change and sometimes Clarke has to run with them. So that’s what she’ll do.

She’ll run with the change that tells her to spend a lot of time with Lexa, more than usual.

She’ll run with trying not to give Lexa any lingering looks but doing it anyway.

She’ll run with trying to look away quick enough so that Lexa doesn’t see her and she’ll run with knowing that Lexa did see her and hoping that Lexa will act before she has to.

She’ll run with hoping to hell that she can sum up the courage to kiss that girl.

Right now she doesn’t have that courage though. Instead she has Lincoln, Lexa, Bellamy, Octavia, Raven, her mom and, most importantly, her dad.

It’s pretty great though. Her father, who she loves. Her mother, who she loves. Her friends, who she loves and the girl that she loves.

Also, pancakes and eggs and bacon and French toast and normal toast (or American toast, according to Raven and Octavia).

“No. You can’t _like_ vegemite. I’m sorry but no.” Raven is struck by the conversation that has come up. Lexa likes vegemite.

“It’s true. My family and I went to Australia for a few weeks and we tried vegemite. I loved it.”

Groans and other disturbing noises filled the room, “Guys, I have been struggling with this my whole life. It is true. She likes vegemite.” With that Lincoln got up and moved into the kitchen, from Octavia’s side.

Of all moments, it’s now. Clarke realises that she’s lucky; really, _really_ lucky. Her dad is fine, better than fine, he drove into a tree at almost full speed and got out with only some crutches. She’s surrounded by her friends, old and new, who have stood by her ever since they have known her. It makes her feel fantastic, really.

Shortly after Bellamy got up too, following Lincoln into the room. Everyone exchanges looks and raised eyebrows; Clarke’s parent’s just sit there and look at Clarke in confusion, who just gives her a look that says ‘I’ll tell you later’ though both parent’s know she won’t. Raven starts to talk about the vegemite again and a collective groan surrounds the room.  
\---

When Lincoln hears footsteps behind him he assumes it’s his girlfriend. He’s rooting around in the fridge when he calls out, “Clarke, where’s your orange juice?”

A manly voice answers him in the same room, “It’s on the door.” Lincoln looks around to the door and, yeah, it’s there.

“Oh, thanks.” He turns around and looks at Bellamy in the eyes, a nervous feeling brewing in his stomach. “Did you want anything?”

“No. I need to talk to you.” Bellamy begins. “I don’t like you.”

Lincoln is slightly struck by that. “I know.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes impatiently, “ _But _I am willing to…get to know you. To see if you are enough for her.”__

__Lincoln rolls his eyes at that, “She’s stronger than you think, she doesn’t need you to look out for her this much.”_ _

__“I’m giving you a chance here, Lincoln. Take it.” With that Bellamy turns and walks out of the room._ _

__They spend the day like that, with Clarke’s father and mother, watching movies and eating too much and laughing a lot and sharing stories. To say it was a good day would be a lie; it was a fantastic day. Everyone she loved was in that room, everyone she could ever hope to be in her life was in that room and, if the dirty dishes and the smiles around the room where any indication, she’d say everyone else was thinking the same thing._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I finish this fic (which will be soon) I am planning on writing a Bechloe one so if you think that might just be a good idea, drop me a comment and I might just be more motivated.  
> Even if you don't I'll do it anyway.


	11. Could be dates and songs that mean the world.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anya and Raven get somewhere. Lexa and Clarke almost do.

“And that is why tattoos are so important in this society and how they affect different places in different times.” Raven ends their presentation, the lights come back up and Anya and Raven high-five each other. There is a round of bored applause that goes around the class; loudest from the teacher. Anya and Raven smile at each other, it may seem childish but Raven feels like that smile might hold something more.

-That’s silly.-

Raven turns around back to their teacher and they go sit back down in their respective seats, and Raven tried to listen to someone’s speech about god knows what.  
\---

Raven’s packed up her bags and is moving out of the class room when she feels an apprehensive hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at the hands owner and she meets the eyes of Anya. “Can I talk to you?”

Raven’s heart thumps. “Yeah, of course.” They wait until the last pupil is out of the room and Anya starts talking.

“I was wondering if you want to go out and get a coffee.” Raven heart thumps harder, “Like a date.” Raven swallows, “If you like, you don’t have to. I’ll take your silence as a no.”

Anya moves to leave and she has her hand on the door handle when Raven can comprehend what just happened and she moves towards Anya, “Wait, wait. Yes, I’ll go on a date with you.” Anya’s face softens and smiles at her, then leaves. It was abrupt but it was good, something that said ‘a lot will happen from now on. A lot of that will be good.’  
\---

 _**Clarke:** guys I’m bored.  
 **Lexa:** Samesies.  
 **Bellamy:** Do homework.  
 **Clarke:** Gross, no.  
 **Lincoln:** Lexa do your homework.  
 **Lexa:** Lincoln you are across the hall, you don’t have to text me.  
 **Lexa:** Not that loud.  
 **Clarke:** I’m pretty sure I heard that.  
 **Octavia:** Yeah that hurt my ears   
**Lincoln:** BOW DOWN.  
 **Lexa:** Wait a second Octavia you live ages away from us.  
 **Octavia:** But am I there?  
 **Clarke:** Gross  
 **Bellamy:** Wait what?  
 **Clarke:** Guys, I’m bored.  
 **Lexa:** Yeah  
 **Clarke:** Lexa meet me?  
 **Bellamy:** Damn it, Octavia!  
 **Lexa:** yeah, okay.   
**Octavia:** I left you a note. _  
\---

 _**Clarke:** Dropship @ 6?  
 **Lexa:** Woah, this is weird. Yeah, 6 is good. I’ll be there  
 **Clarke:** What’s weird?  
 **Lexa:** Not having to worry about other people interrupting  
 **Clarke:** Yeah, it’s nice when it’s just us  
 **Lexa:** Yeah_  
\---

Lexa and Clarke got to dropship and it was nothing like she had experienced before. It was big and home-y and even though it was only a small place on a small road it was surprisingly busy and…and in a weird way it was beautiful. Lexa wasn’t sure how a place with black-and-white tile flooring and old, scratched oak tables and mismatched chairs is beautiful but somehow it was.

It reminded her of Clarke.  
\---  
Lexa and Clarke sat there for a while, doing nothing but drink coffee and eat breakfast foods. It’s pretty fantastic. _Except_ Clarke has had this song stuck in her head for hours. Well, less of a song. More of a tune. She started humming it in the café subconsciously. It’s only when Lexa looks up from her coffee cup that she realises that she was humming.

“What song is that?” Lexa asks her with a quizzical look on her face.

Clarke groans, “I don’t _know._ It’s been in my head for hours and I do. Not. Know. It. It’s infuriating.”

“Carry on. Keep humming.”

Clarke hums. Lexa gets a far off look in her eye and, after a while of awkward humming, her eyebrows shoot up. She reaches for her phone in her coat pocket and get out her headphones too, “Tear in my heart.”

“What?” Clarke is even more confused about Lexa’s sudden confession about her heart.

“The song. Tear in my heart by Twenty One Pilots.” Clarke still looks confused.

-Oh, duh.-

“I’ve never even heard of them.” Lexa gestures for Clarke to move around to her site of the booth and Clarke abides. She hands headphone to Clarke and searches through her music library. As soon as the first few cords play through the headphones Clarke bangs her hand on the table, thoroughly startling a couple next to them, probably on a date.

“This is it. This is the song!” Clarke feels like a weight has been lifted off of her shoulders when the song ends. Clarke smiles to herself at the look in Lexa’s eyes when she is looking at her, even though she can’t quite place it. It’s only when her eye’s move to the rest of Lexa’s face (her mouth, in particular) that Clarke realises how close they are.

Close enough to kiss. And Clarke is sure of her feeling for Lexa and she’s pretty sure about Lexa’s feeling for Clarke and she’s sure that she was about to lean in and she’s sure that Lexa was too but she is also sure that the bell that signals that the Dropship is closing soon just went off and she knows that the owner just yelled, “Closing time! Everybody out!” and she knows that she just rolled her eyes and her stomach dropped and she wants to cry because her feeling for Lexa are over whelming and soon she might just explode.

Then Lexa is pulling the head phone out of her ear because she was wasn’t moving and Lexa is putting her coat on and Lexa is probably expecting Clarke to get up and move now so _that’s_ what she does.

It’s not what she _wants_ to do but it’s what she does.

She wants to do so much more than _put on her coat and leave_ but she doesn’t.

And she doesn’t know what’s stopping her.  
\---

The next time Lexa comes around Clarke’s house is…different. Lexa knocks on Clarke’s front door and waits for an answer, an answer that does come so she just walks in and she doesn’t know what makes her do it but the sense of security surround her when Clarke is around is unfathomable.

But then she’s outside Clarke’s door and listening. She’s listening to Twenty One Pilots and it makes a feeling settle into Lexa stomach. Something she doesn’t think she has felt before. Or not like this, she feels it for her Mom and Dad, she feels it for her brother, she feels it (mildly) for her friends.

Love. She’s in love with-

“Oh, fuck, Lexa.” She doesn’t get to finish her thought because a Clarke Griffin is standing in front of her with a softball bat behind her head and her muscles tensed around it. Then Clarke is turning around and frantically cleaning up her desk and pausing the music that is playing, she has a little blush creeping up her face when she turns back around, like there should be something to be ashamed of.

“You have my book.” Is all Lexa can muster up.

“Oh, right.” Clarke turns around to her bed and grabs the book, handing it over to Lexa. The awkward atmosphere is off putting and out of place to Lexa, somehow she thinks it’s different for Clarke.

“Thank you.” And then she leaves.  
\---

Clarke is nervous. Stupidly nervous about something that didn’t even happen. Well, she isn’t sure it didn’t happen but she has a feeling that it did and to her that is enough to conjure up this nervousness about the face that Lexa may have seen her drawing Lexa. Or Lexa’s lips, eyes, jaw line, the little neck bit where your shoulder connects to your neck, you know, the usual.

Also, she was listening to Twenty One Pilots, her new favourite band and the band that she has somehow linked to Lexa and everything about Lexa. It’s fantastic and it’s tearing her apart.

It’s a change she has never felt before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is almost finished and a Bechloe one is in the making.


	12. Dates and finally's.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anya and Raven are on a date and Lexa and Clarke finally get somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With my awful planning and my little knowledge of the american school system I realised that there was next to nothing about how old these people are. So, basically all of them are either 17 or 18. I have a feeling I have written that they are sophomore's but after some research I realise this makes them too young, so here you are. (I'll put this on the first chapter too, for anyone reading this in the future).

“That cannot be how it happened!” Anya exclaims, half laughing. After hearing the story of how Raven got the scar on the edge of her arm (She fell off of her bike, into a fence, bees attacked her, she ran away, dogs chased her, she fell over _then_ she cut her arm.

“It’s true. Ask anyone I know. That is how it happened.” Raven told her, punctuating every word with a point to her arm.

The date was going surprisingly well, Raven had her share of nerves and she is sure Anya had too but this eased them so well that they weren’t even on her mind anymore. All that was on her mind is trying to get to know Anya on every level. The fact that Raven was getting to be able to do it, was fantastic.

The date was the same, it was simple. They were just sitting in the middle of a park surrounded by nature and the sky. They had a coffee in their hands and a few snacks in a bag. Hell, they hadn’t moved in over an hour. It made Raven happy, more than happy. She hadn’t experienced this sort of ease in someone other than her friends or family. Raven had never expected it to be like this with Anya. In all honestly she had expected it to be awkward, all of this pining over all of these year now paying off. It was like paying off a debt, except the debt is beautiful and paying it off is wonderful.

“Call Octavia. Right now, that will be the proof I need.”

Raven dials Octavia’s number.  
\---

Clarke can’t help it if she can’t get enough Lexa. It’s Sunday, she hasn’t seen Lexa since…yesterday. But it’s 8 o’clock at night and with the stars out and her heart really knowing what it wants she can’t help it if she want to see Lexa. Beautiful Lexa.

So now she is at Lexa’s front door with her hand on the knocker and with her coat on her back and Lincoln’s chest in her face?

Oh. Lexa has a brother. Clarke looks up to his already smiling face and says, “Is Lexa in?”

Clarke thinks she sees his smile grow, “Yeah, just a sec. Come in.” Lincoln walks to the bottom of the stairs and yells, “Lex!” “

“What?!” She hears.

“Clarke’s here!”

“Who?!”

“Clarke!”

“Can you two stop shouting?!” She hears from Gustus, also upstairs.

“Who?!”

“Clarke!”

“Who?!”

“Damnit, Woods! I know you can hear me!” When she hears Lexa’s door shut she waits, for the few weeks that she has been here Clarke knows that there are 4 seconds until she gets to the top of the stairs.

1…2…3…4, “You know that doesn’t work when we’re both called Woods, right?” Lincoln just shrugs.

When Lincoln’s door finally shuts, Lexa looks at her expectedly though still with a smile on her face. After a few seconds Clarke realised that she was the one who came into Lexa’s house. “Do you want to go on a walk?”

Lexa looks confused, “Where?”

“Out.” Is all Clarke answers.

“Yeah, okay.” Lexa gets on her shoes and coat, then they leave. They walk down their road in pure silence. The only sounds around them are the distant cars and the wind between the leaves of the trees.

“Why are we going on a walk?” Lexa asks out of the blue.

Clarke considers saying something else, something that doesn’t make her sound desperate but she decides against it, “I wanted to see you.”

Clarke misses the look of adoration on Lexa’s face, she just looked away. “Why were you so flustered a few days ago?”

Clarke’s head whips around, now she feels like she has to say something other than, ‘Because I was drawing you because you are so incredibly beautiful and I can’t help it.’

“I was drawing something.” Lexa obviously isn’t satisfied with that answer but she doesn’t push it. They keep walking, no words, just walking. After a while Lexa stops, just stops nothing important is around, just a tree and some leaves falling off with the coming of the autumn. When she turns back to Lexa she is staring up at the sky smiling.

Clarke goes to stand next to her and looks up as well, in the same place. There was only one thing in the sky. Clarke looked up expecting to see the millions of stars and the moon but there was only one thing. A shooting star. There were only times that Clarke had seen a shooting star. Once, when she had met all of her friends at preschool. Again, when she asked her mum and dad for a dog and she was staying up too late, the next day she got a gold fish (it was to see if she was capable to keep a dog. The fish died in a week. She was _ten_ ). The point is, whenever she sees a shooting star something good happens.

When she looks back to Lexa there’s a look in her eye’s one that she can’t place. Like there is a whole other world in there, an alternate universe. Clarke has a feeling that the same look is in her eyes.

Then Lexa gets a different look in her eyes, one with hints of the last. And it’s beautiful. Then Lexa leans in and their lips are together and it’s more than anything she could ever hope for.

For a while Clarke is just stunned, and Lexa starts to pull away and Clarke goes in again. Lexa moves her lips against Clarke’s and they spend a while like that, lip locked. And in wonder with each other. Clarke realises what’s happening and pulls away, she can’t help but notice that Lexa cases her for a while. Then Clarke thinks she realises what it is in her own eyes. She realises what’s in Lexa’s eyes. The electricity between them feels like it could fuel the world. It could fuel them both forever.

It’s lo-

Then it starts pouring down with rain. Lexa takes her hand and starts to run, Clarke runs with her.

Clarkes good with running with Lexa for a long time.


	13. The last day.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue.

Lexa knows she has to do this. This is what she signed up for. Well, signed up for is a weird way to put it. Lexa has to strike up her courage so that what she does. She stands up a little too abruptly, startling the other people at the table, though it does get their attention.

When they go quiet so does everyone else in the room. It feels odd to not have paper in her hands when she speaks so she picks up her fork, and moves it in her hand. When everyone else is effectively silenced Lexa swallows the lump in her throat and speaks.

“I’m no good at speeches. I’ve spent hours staring down at paper and wondering what words I should put down. What words properly express my feelings. I realised there are none, because feelings are feelings and words are words. So…I’m going to wing it.” This earns a laugh from friends and family, new and old. 

“There have been bad times,”  
\---

“Lexa, I don’t understand why you are so mad!” Clarke and Lexa have been in a yelling match for hours now or at least that’s what it felt like, both of their throats are sore. Lexa isn’t going to back down, neither is Clarke. They both know it.

“Why am I so mad? Have you not been hearing me?” Clarke shrugs. “Because you left! You left in the middle of an argument about I can’t even remember what and you didn’t talk to me for hours! You told me you were going on a walk! No one goes on a walk for 7 hours and doesn’t pick up their phone, doesn’t answer any texts!”

“C’mon, Lexa! Do you not think I can keep myself safe?” They’ve been walking around the house, as if they are looking for something but there is nothing to be found. Only something to be resolved. This argument and the one before it, one which neither of them could remember.

“I know for a fact that you can keep yourself safe, I don’t know if you can fight off a kidnapper when they catch you off guard!” Lexa yells, but at the same time there is some sort of love in her voice. Clarke can hear it.

“You have to understand I’m smarter than that!” Clarke knew her argument wasn’t strong but her stubbornness kept her going.

“I know you are smart, you are the smartest person I know. I don’t think being smart changes whether or not you get kidnapped or killed or…or…taken away from me!” Lexa sits on their couch, exasperated. “I can’t lose you, Clarke. Never.”

Clarke doesn’t say anything to this, just sits next to her. A foot away. It’s tense but Clarke being next to Lexa has lifted her nerves that had been accumulating for the last few hours.

“Why didn’t you let me know where you were, I texted everyone. No one told me.”

“I asked them not to.” Lexa looks wounded, “I was mad Lexa, you have to understand that. I asked them not to because I wanted to inflict pain. And I know that was an awful idea but I did it anyway. I regret it. I am so, so sorry.”

“I can’t forgive you that easily, Clarke. I just had to know you were okay. That hurt me, I didn’t want to hear that you were missing. I love you, Clarke. So, so much love.”

“I love you too, Lexa. So much it’s unbelievable.”

Then they kiss.  
\---

“There have been good times.”  
\---

Clarke came home with two sticks. She said nothing when she came in with them, then she went straight to her office (the office filled with canvasses and paints) and was in there for 30 minutes. Came out the door with a handkerchief around her face and spray paint on her hands came into the kitchen, where Lexa was making dinner, and handed Lexa one of the sticks. 

A stick that looked like a sword. They had been spray painted-silver with a gold handle. It was pretty awesome; Lexa was appreciating the handy work. There were two smaller sticks making the across bit of the hilt (What? Lexa doesn’t know what it’s called) and masking tape making up some grip. Her name was etched into the side, it was impressive. In 30 minutes there was this much Clarke-y-ness in a stick (she had taken to using Clarke’s name to describe something that reminded her of Clarke). Then she felt a sharp jab to her side.

Clarke hand her handkerchief tied around her head and a sly look on her face. Her stick-sword was held out in front of her and she says, “Fight me, Hook.” Lexa just laughs at the beautiful sight of her girlfriend. “What? I’ve never seen Peter Pan. I don’t know what they say.”

-My beautiful idiot girlfriend.-

There is only one way to get out of this. Lexa puts down the sword, she can feel Clarke’s mood go horribly bad. She goes to the oven and turns it off, thing is; she doesn’t want to get out of it so she turns grabs the sword, and lightly whacks Clarke in the side.

Clarke turns around and stands in her stance again, with a smile so big on her face and Lexa’s smile mirroring it. Lexa hits her sword onto Clarke’s and they duel, it is the weirdest thing Lexa has ever done, and she loves it. Clarke runs into the sitting room of their apartment and jumps on the couch turns and they carry on, carefully hitting each other’s sword.

They spend an hour of their day like that. The dinner is never eaten.  
\---

“There always will be good times and bad times,”  
\---

They’ve all come back from college for Christmas break. All nine of them, it’s nice. They all gathered to Dropship for a while to catch up so that is what they are doing. Raven and Anya are going strong, Lincoln and Octavia have problems sometimes but that’s because of the distance. Clarke and Lexa are basically married, that what their friends say, Bellamy met a girl, Echo. No one really knows what’s going on with Jasper and Monty.  
\---

 

“But if there is one thing I know about us it is that we can get through whatever we pursue or what pursues us.”  
\---

“He’s dead.” Clarke says with an empty look in her eyes. “My father was in a car crash.”

“Clarke. I’m sorry.”

“Y’know what’s funny. It wasn’t his fault. It was no one’s fault. He swerved into a tree. Witnesses say it was a fox.”

“Oh my god, isn’t this t-.”

“The same day, 3 years later.”

It took a while for Clarke to get used to this pain. When you lose a parent it does change you, it’s something you need to get used to. That day is still the same every year, go to the grave; say their ‘I love you’s’

But there was one year, 3 years later. Lexa asked for his blessing. It was a weird thing; Lexa knows it was, she did it anyway. Lexa doesn’t know what she was waiting for but she wanted to know if Clarke’s father wouldn’t mind that they got married.

Nothing happened, but somehow she knew he was okay with it.  
\---  
“I love you, Clarke Griffin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's done. Who would've guessed I'd get this far? I will be starting a Bechloe fic soon and I have some idea's for a Hollstein fic.  
> Who knows, maybe I'll see you again.


End file.
